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COMflENTARIES 


ON 


HEBREW  AND  CHRISTIAN 
HYTHOLOGY 


BY 


JUDGE  PARISH  B.   LADD,  LL.B., 
Of  the  San  Francisco  Bar 


New  York: 
THE  TRUTH  BEEKEB  COMPANY, 

28    TiAFAYKTTK     PllAOl, 


Copyrighted,  189G, 

by 

Parish  B.  Ladd. 
All  rights  reserved 


LiZz. 


CONTENTS. 

Preface vii. 

Primitive  divinities,  how  made 1 1 

Divinities  selected  in  the  heavens 12 

Origin  of  the  priesthood 14 

Chaldea,  its  territory,  people,  religion  and  language.  18 

The  people  of  Chaldea 19 

Abraham:    was  he  a  myth? 23 

The  germ  of  Judaism  formed  at  Ur  of  the  Chaldees.  25 
The  Semites  cross  the  Euphrates  and  become  He- 
brews    27 

The  Hebrews  go  into  Egypt 29 

Egyptian  influence  on  the  Hebrew 30 

Hebrews  as  herdsmen  in  Egypt 31 

1  [ebrews  as  nomads 32 

Moses  and  the  Exodus 33 

The  Hebrews  from  the  time  they  went  into  Egypt 

until  the  captivity 36 

The  Hebrews  in  Egypt $7 

The  sojourn  of  the  Hebrews  in  Egypt 38 

Jehovah    and    the    Hebrew    ritual    borrowed    from 

Egypl  47 

Moses  at  Mount  Sinai 48 

Moses  and  his  laws 49 

Origin  of  the  books  of  Moses  and  other  sacred  writ- 
ings of  the  Hebrews 53 

Modern  Judaism   65 


630G 


iv  Contents. 

I  Irigin  of  the  Sabbath 66 

Chaldean  legends  of  creation 69 

Mosaic  legends  of  creation 71 

The  Chaldean  flood  legend 72 

Hasisadra's  story  of  the  deluge 75 

The  Biblical  flood 77 

Comparison  of  the  Mosaic  and  Chaldean  legends ...  78 

Accounts  of  creation  by  Berosus  and  others 78 

Zoroaster's  account  of  creation 79 

Hindu  account  of  creation 80 

Scandinavian  account  of  creation 80 

The  Sadducees'  and  Pharisees'  versions  of  the  Mes- 
siah    82 

Christ,  or  Christus,  was  he  a  real  character  or  was 

he  a  myth  ? 83 

The  crucified  man  (if  there  was  one),  who  was  he, 

when  and  where  was  he  born? 94" 

The  time  when  the  hero  was  born  being  unknown,  it 

was  arbitrarily  fixed 98 

Had  Christ  any  education? 100 

More  Messiahs  than  one 101 

The  twenty  historical  Messiahs 104 

The  four  gospels  and  other  Christian  writings  as 

legends  and  forgeries 109 

The  gospels  as  seen  by  some  of  the  early  fathers 

and  others 1 1 1 

Authorship  and  time  of  the  writings 115 

Alexandrian  codex  or  Bible  and  others 119 

The  cross,  the  Trinity,  and  the  creed  were  of  Pa^an 

origin    1 38 

The  apocryphal  and  lost  gospels 142 

The  gospel  of  Nicodemus 144 

The  gospel  of  the  infancy  of  Christ 146 


Contents.  v 

What  do  we  know  of  Peter  and  the  apostles? 148 

The  twelve  apostles 149 

The  apostolic  fathers  and  their  writings 149 

Apollonius  of  Tyana 152 

The  council  of  Nice 160 

What  do  we  know  of  the    sayings    and  doings  of 

Christ  ? 163 

Pagan  miracles 164 

The  world  without  Christianity 168 

Rome  at  the  time  of  the  origin  of  Christianity 168 

Arrogance  of  Christian  doctrines 169 

Low  character  of  the  early  Christians 171 

The  apostles 172 

Quarrel  over  the  trinity  and  incarnation 173 

Quarrel  over  images 176 

Battle  of  Tours 177 

Quarrel  over  the  sacrament 178 

Constantine,   first   Christian   Emperor 179 

Summary  of  the  origin  of  Christian  mythology 180 

Records  of  the  church  in  evidence 185 

First  crusade 185 

All  Europe  in  arms 187 

Capture  1  >\  Jerusalem 188 

Other  crusading  expeditious 189 

Records  of  the  inquisition  in  evidence 189 

Persecutions  in  England 19° 

Inquisition   established 191 

cutions  in  France 194 

Spanish  persecutions 194 

cution  of  the  Jews 195 

The  Reformation,  Luther  and  Calvin 200 

Dark  ages 203 

Witch-burning  by  the  church 205 


VI 


<  'ontents. 


rhe  pope  and  priesthood 207 

Trial  and  punishment  of  quadrupeds  and  insects  by 

the  church 209 

Mythology  of  ancient  Persia 214 

Chinese  philosophy  and  transmigration 215 

Mythology  of  Egypt 221 

Mythology  of  Greece 222 

Comparison  of  the  different  religions 223 

Conflict  between  science  and  religion 224 

What  is  life? 225 

Conclusion   228 


PREFACE. 

The  claim  which  has  so  long  been  persistently  main- 
tained of  the  supernatural  origin  of  Christianity  and  its 
Christ  has  at  last  been  met  by  positive  denials,  and 
thereby  an  issue  has  been  raised. 

Because  of  the  natural  difficulty  of  proving  a  negative, 
the  rule  has  long  since  been  permanently  established 
that  he  who  asserts  a  thing  which  is  denied  must  first 
offer  proofs  sufficient  to  make  a  prima-facie  case,  before 
the  party  denying  the  allegation  is  called  upon  for  a  de- 
fense. 

Has  the  church  ever  made  sufficient  proof  that  its  re- 
ligion and  its  founder  were  of  supernatural  origin  to 
call  for  counter-evidence?  We  think  not;  but  this  claim 
has  been  made,  and  for  nearly  nineteen  hundred  years  it 
has  been  acquiesced  in  by  a  very  large  and  respectable 
body  of  men  calling  themselves  Christians. 

It  may  be  said,  not  without  some  show  of  reason,  that 
this  long  acquiescence  is  equivalent  to  proof  sufficient  to 
make  a  prima-facie  case. 

Assuming  such  to  be  true,  we  arc  put  on  the  defensive, 
but  with  the  right  to  inter  a  special  plea  as  to  the  force 
of  the  proof  offered  by  thechurch,  and  under  this  plea  we 
may  criticise  the  church's  position,  and  inquire:  First, 
whether  such  a  man  as  Chrisl  is  said  to  have  been  ever 
lived:  second,  if  he  be  a  real  person,  then  what  do  we 
know  of  and  concerning  his  sayings  and  doings. 


viii  Preface 

There  never  has  been  a  time  when  public  sentiment  so 
emphatically  demanded  a  clearer  insight  into  the  ground- 
work or  origin  of  Christianity  as  at  this  time. 

This  is  an  age  of  unrest,  an  age  of  intelligence:  the 
masses  of  our  people  are  thinking  for  themselves;  they 
are  no  longer  satisfied  to  accept  the  dogmatic  expressions 
of  the  priest  and  clergyman  on  these  issues;  they  are  de- 
termined to  investigate,  to  look  into  the  foundation  of  a 
system  of  religion  which  seems  to  them  to  violate  the 
well-recognized  rules  of  natural  law,  and  thereby  conflict 
with  their  common  sense. 

They  are  told  by  their  priests  and  clergymen  that  their 
Christ  was  the  son  of  the  creator  of  the  universe,  begotten 
of  an  earthly  woman,  and  that  their  creed,  or  system  of 
religion,  is  also  of  divine  origin. 

Notwithstanding  the  long  acquiescence  in  this  claim, 
the  default  has  been  set  aside,  and  the  case  put  on  the 
calendar  for  a  trial  on  its  merits. 

The  question  here  presents  itself:  How  is  the  proof 
to  be  obtained,  and  where  is  it  to  be  found?  The  great 
mass  of  our  people  have  been  and  are  too  much  en- 
grossed in  business  to  have  kept  up  with  the  numerous 
works  of  critics,  scientists,  and  historians  which  have  been 
published  in  the  last  fifty  years,  or  to  even  suspect  where 
the  needed  evidence  lies.  Very  few,  even  intelligent  peo- 
ple, know  anything  concerning  ancient  history,  as  studied 
from  the  ruins  of  monuments  of  Chaldea,  Egypt,  and 
Assyria,  or  the  numerous  works  of  science  and  criticism 
which  have  so  shaken  old  opinions  and  beliefs. 

The  facts  disclosed  by  these  works  are  practically  out 
of  the  reach  of  most  people,  because  they  have  not  the 
time  or  patience  to  hunt  up  and  wade  through  hundreds 
of  volumes  to  obtain  such  knowledge. 


Preface.  ix 

The  aim  of  the  author  of  this  little  work,  after  years  of 
toil  among  the  voluminous  works  on  different  branches 
of  this  subject,  has  been  to  collect,  collate,  arrange,  and 
condense  from  the  writings  of  others,  the  matters  bearing 
directly  on  the  several  points  under  discussion  herein;  to 
state  the  facts  and  conclusions  in  a  clear  and  concise  man- 
ner, so  as  to  afford  to  most  readers  all  of  the  desired  infor- 
mation as  to  the  origin  or  foundation  of  Christianity  and  its 
Christ;  also  the  foundation  of  Judaism,  on  which  Chris- 
tianity rests. 

The  evidence  so  collected,  and  presented  herein,  we 
think,  clearly  establishes  the  following  facts,  to  wit: 
That  Judaism  rests  on  myths  borrowed  and  copied  from 
legends  in  common  use  among  all  of  the  Oriental  nations; 
that  Abraham  was  a  myth ;  that  Moses  has  been  buried 
beneath  the  debris  of  legends  which  from  time  to  time 
enveloped  him;  that  the  Pentateuch,  the  so-called  five 
books  of  Moses,  was  not  written  by  Moses,  nor  until  from 
five  hundred  to  a  thousand  years  after  his  death;  that  the 
Bible  story  of  the  creation,  of  Adam  and  Eve,  as  well  as 
the  Rood,  arc  but  myths  borrowed  from  legends  and 
copied  into  I  [ebrew  scriptures. 

As  to  Christianity  and  its  founder,  we  think-  the  evi- 
dence raises  a  serious  doubl  of  the  man's  existence;  thai 
if  he  ever  did  live,  the  fathers  of  the  church  have  never 

been  able  1"  find  onl  when  he  was  born  or  when  he  died, 
or  to  fix  the  real  time  within  more  than  onehnndred  years ; 

thai  the  time  given  in  the  scriptures  was  arbitrarily  fixed 

by  the  church  ill  furtherance  of  its  interests  and  at  thi 

pense  of  truth;  that  of  the  sayings  and  doings  of  Christ 
little  or  nothing  is  definitely  known ;  thai  the  four  ( rospels 
and  other  Christian  writings  are  forgerii   ,  and  were  made 

Up  from  tradition,  letters,  and  scraps  picked  up  here  and 


x  Prefcu  r. 

there,  voted  into  the  Canon  in  the  interest  of  the  church, 
to  which  have  been  added,  at  different  times,  such  matters 
and  things  as  suited  the  church;  that  much  of  the  sacred 
writings  was  the  result  of  force,  fraud,  and  bribery. 

In  point  of  morality,  after  citing  and  comparing  most 
of  the  pagan  religions  with  Christianity,  we  find  them  all 
superior  to  the  latter. 

As  to  the  leaders  of  the  church,  Catholic  and  Protes- 
tant, the  evidence  shows  them  to  have  been  dogmatic, 
superstitious,  intolerant,  and  cruel  in  the  extreme;  that  to 
perpetuate  their  power  and  rule,  they  have  put  to  death 
more  than  30,000,000  of  innocent  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, a  very  large  proportion  of  whom  were  tortured  in  a 
manner  only  conceivable  by  fiends. 


COMMENTARIES     ON     HEBREW    AND 
CHRISTIAN    MYTHOLOGY. 


Primitive  Divinities — How  Made. 

In  the  Hebrew  Genesis  we  are  told  that  Abraham  came 
out  of  Ur  of  the  Chaldees.  The  city  of  Ur  at  the  time  of 
the  mythical  Abraham,  was  the  capital  of  Elam.  At  the 
dawn  of  history,  some  four  thousand  years  B.  C,  the 
whole  country  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  Zagras 
"Mountains  was  known  as  Mesopotamia.  The  low  flat 
country  of  the  south,  bordering-  on  the  Persian  Gulf,  was 
known  as  Accadia.  Accadia,  at  that  early  date,  was  di- 
vided into  small  districts;  each  district  had  a  capital  city 
in  which  a  large  temple  was  erected  for  the  worship  of 
the  divinities.  Each  capital  was  governed  by  a  Pator, 
being  king  and  priest  in  one,  and  each  city  had  its  special 
deity.  Prior  thereto,  at  thai  time,  and  for  a  long  time 
thereafter,  not  only  in  Asia  but  in  most  parts  of  Europe, 
each  household  had  its  divine  protector  and  its  sacred  fire, 
in  which  household,  at  first  the  father,  and  in  later  times 
the  Pator,  or  priest,  resided  and  ruled  the  family.  This 
is  believed  to  be  the  origin  of  the  great  family  of  Gods, 
who  since  that  time  have  presided  over  the  inhabitants  of 
the  earth. 

After  the  organization  of  the  tribes,  and  building  of 
cities,  it  became  necessary  to  appoinl  or  establish  munici- 
pal deities  with  enlarged  powers  to  preside  over  the  tribe 


12  Commentaries  on   Hebrew 

and  city  as  the  household  Gods  had  presided  over  the 
family. 

Notwithstanding  this  tribal  or  city  God,  it  was  a  long 
time  before  the  household  divinity  became  obsolete,  for 
we  are  told  in  Hebrew  mythology  that  even  Abraham 
had  his  household  Gods  at  the  city  of  Ur.  These  family 
divinities  in  later  times  became  known  as  Talismans. 

When  a  tribal  or  municipal  deity  was  created,  he  was 
named  by  the  joint  action  of  all  the  Pators,  or  forced  on 
the-  people  by  the  ruling  faction,  and  his  powers  and  du- 
ties were  by  this  body  defined  and  established. 

When  several  tribes  or  cities  had  united,  as  they  did  for 
mutual  protection,  into  kingdoms  or  empires,  Gods  for 
such  kingdoms  and  empires  were  created  by  the  joint  ac- 
tion of  all  the  Pators.  or  their  representatives,  of  such 
kingdoms  and  empires,  sanctioned  by  the  sovereign, 
who  generally  sat  in  and  presided  over  the  council.  The 
last  council  of  this  character  held  its  session  at  Nice,  and 
was  presided  over  by  the  great  Constantine.  No  one  of 
these  Gods  ever  arose  to  the  dignity  of  presiding  over  the 
world  until  after  the  reign  of  Solomon,  when  the  king- 
doms of  Judah  and  Israel  cast  off  Ab-Ram  and  Elohim, 
and  out  of  the  debris  created  Jehovah. 

Divinities  Selected  in  the  Heavens. 

In  the  creation  or  selection  of  deities,  the  material  was 
sought  for  in  the  heavens.  The  Sun  was  everywhere  se- 
lected as  the  head  or  national  divinity;  out  of  the  other 
planets  and  from  natural  phenomena  other  and  lesser 
Gods  were  made.  The  Sun  being  the  source  of  light, 
heat,  and  life,  there  could  be  nothing  more  natural  than 
that  it  should  be  selected  to  occupy  the  first  and  highest 
place  in  the  heavens  and  in  the  affections  of  man.     The 


And  Christian  Mythology.  13 

head  of  these  celestial  divinities  was  given,  or  supposed 
to  possess,  unlimited  wisdom,  and  power  over  all  lesser 
Gods,  and  over  man.  Early  man,  realizing  pleasure  and 
pain,  the  former  good  and  the  latter  bad,  naturally  de- 
duced therefrom  a  dual  principle;  so  he  created  an  evil 
being,  and  fixed  his  abode  in  and  below  the  earth.  Hav- 
ing thereby  created  good  and  evil  beings,  repre- 
senting good  and  evil  principles,  he  naturally  concluded 
that  these  good  and  evil  beings  must  be  at  war  with  each 
other;  and  as  he  had  created  these  two  beings  with  no 
higher  type  than  his  own  to  model  from,  he  created  them 
in  his  own  image;  to  the  one  he  gave  his  good  attributes, 
and  to  the  other  ascribed  his  evil,  dark  nature.  Now,  as 
man  loved  light,  and  the  numerous  blessings  it  brought 
to  him,  he  looked  up,  welcomed  the  dawn,  worshiped 
the  sun  in  its  onward  course  through  the  heavens,  and 
wont  to  his  cave  or  cabin  in  mortal  dread  and  fear  of  wild 
beasts  and  other  evils,  where  he  poured  out  his  prayers 
for  the  return  of  the  solar  orb. 

Such  was  man  in  his  savage  and  semi-savage  state,  in 
his  nomadic  life.  I  fe  had  thus  created  for  himself  a  sys- 
tem 01  celestial  beings,  on  whom  he  could  call  for  help  in 
time  of  need;  he  had  made  them  in  his  own  image  be- 
ne had  no  higher  type  to  work  from. 

These  divine  beings  have  ever  been  created  by  man  in 

his  savage  and  -'iiii  savage  state;  they  were  the  natural 
products  of  his  own  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  nature.  The 
various  phenomena  of  nature,  he  being  unable  to  account 
for  them,  were  .'i  a  ribed  to  thi9  mysterii  ius  p<  >wer.     I  lav 

ing  create. I  these  being8  and  worshiped  them  in  his  sax- 
age  and  semi  tate,  he  left  them  as  an  inheritance 
for  later  generations.     While  civilized  man  could  tolerate 
and  worship  these  stale,  antiquated.  '  rods,  because  of  long 


1 1  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

standing,  he  could  never  tolerate  the  creation  of  new 
ones,  it  remained  for  the  Council  of  Nice  to  create  the 
last  of  these  heavenly  rulers.  Having  created  the  Gods 
out  of  the  heavenly  bodies  and  the  phenomena  of  nature, 
and  believing  that  they  were,  like  himself,  endowed  with 
will  power,  and  could  do  him  good  and  harm,  he  naturally 
sought  to  propitiate  them,  to  get  their  good  will  and  to 
secure  their  aid.  To  do  this,  he  offered  prayers,  sacrifices, 
and  entreaties  invoking  special  powers.  Nor  is  it 
strange  that,  in  the  course  of  time,  he  should  come  to  be- 
lieve that  he  received  such  powers.  The  Accadian 
mythology  (says  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica)  had  its 
origin  in  astrology;  the  stars  were  personified  and  be- 
came Gods.  The  Semites  accepted  this  system,  which 
was  handed  down  to  the  Jews,  and  later  was  adopted  by 
the  Christians,  and  the  devil,  with  horns,  claws,  tail,  and 
wings,  as  found  on  the  Assyrian  bas-reliefs,  was  copied 
by  the  Christians. 

Origin  of  the  Priesthood. 

During  all  this  time  there  grew  up  a  class  of  men  more 
cunning,  if  not  more  wise,  than  the  populace,  who  pre- 
tended and  claimed  to  see  and  converse  with  the  Gods, 
face  to  face,  and  to  be  able  to  obtain  special  favors  for 
those  not  versed  in  hidden  mysteries. 

It  being  to  the  interest  of  these  mediators  to  encour- 
age the  belief  in  their  special  powers,  and  finding  the 
uninitiated  ready  believers,  the  priests  soon  gained  influ- 
ence, control,  and  even  dominion  over  their  unsuspecting 
subjects,  who  became  blind  devotees  of  their  wily  priests. 

In  order  to  retain  their  influence,  power,  and  dominion, 
these  crafty  pretenders  promulgated  laws,  rules,  and  pre- 


And  Christian  Mythology.  15 

cepts  for  the  observance,  guidance,  and  control  of  their 
dupes  and  votaries. 

That  these  laws,  rules,  and  precepts  came  directly  from 
the  Gods  has  ever  been  the  pretense  of  the  priests  in 
every  religious  system;  and  as  such  they  have  been 
too  sacred  to  be  questioned,  at  least  by  the  uninitiated  mul- 
titude, and  so  the  great  unthinking  mass  of  mankind  have 
at  all  times  accepted,  without  thought,  question,  or 
murmur,  the  Gods  and  laws  so  made,  as  divine  truths. 

In  this  way  a  priesthood  under  different  names  was  very 
early  established,  and  became  a  fixture  and  a  power 
among  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  the  peoples  and  tribes  of  the 
earth.  This  power  and  dominion  did  little  harm  to  man 
in  his  barbaric  or  semi-civilized  state,  nor  was  its  baneful 
influence  materially  felt  until  a  later  day,  when  this  ec- 
clesiastical power  was  extended  over  the  civilian  as  a 
citizen  or  subject  of  the  state,  and  the  people  found  them- 
selves within  the  grasp  of  this  divine  octopus. 

The  people  so  priest-ridden  found  it  easier  or  more 
agreeable  to  accept  without  question  what  was  given 
them  by  a  class  of  men  whom  they  looked  upon  as 
possessed  of  great  wisdom  and  divine  power  than  to 
think  for  themselves.  These  beliefs,  so  accepted  and 
acted  upon,  having  been  handed  down  from  generation 
to  generation,  and  from  century  to  century,  became 
part  and  parcel  of  man's  very  nature;  nor  has  it  been  an 
easy  matter  for  more  enlightened  men  to  throw  off  this 
long-established  network  of  myths,  fables,  and  falsehoods. 
Some  men  nominally  accept  these  beliefs  because  it  is  to 
their  interest  to  do  so;  others  because  it  is  less  trouble  to 
follow  an  established  error  than  to  oppose  it. 

The  true  believer  of  today,  if  there  be  any  such,  finds 
himself  compelled  in   religions  matters  to  lay  aside  his 


1<;  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

reason  and  oven  his  common  sense;  his  religion  is  con- 
stantly at  war  with  natural  law;  though  he  may  for  a 
time  succeed  in  driving  out  nature,  she  is  sure  to  return 
to  claim  her  own.  Time  obliterates  his  false  religion 
when  nature  calls  him  back  home  again,  for  nature  is 
never  at  variance  with  sound  reason  and  philosophy. 

These  priests  in  early  times  made  images  or  statues  of 
their  Gods,  and  set  them  up  in  dense  forests  and  other 
lonely  places,  where  they  spent  most  of  their  time  in  pray- 
ers and  solemn  festivals,  and  where  they  acted  as  inter- 
preters of  the  divine  will  for  and  at  the  call  of  the  devotee. 
These  images  were  sometimes  attached  to  hidden  springs 
and  machines,  which  were  worked  to  produce  sounds  in 
the  presence  of  the  dupes,  and  these  noises  were  inter- 
preted by  the  priest  as  best  suited  his  purpose.  In  Egypt, 
as  late  as  the  time  of  Moses,  the  Egyptian  and  Hebrew 
priests  adopted  a  system  of  chance,  the  result  of  which 
was  interpreted  for  good  or  evil  as  best  suited  the  caller 
and  best  worked  in  the  interest  of  the  priest.  In  later 
times,  the  Hebrew  substituted  for  the  oracle,  the  dreamer 
and  the  prophet.  On  this  subject,  Ernest  Renan,  one  of 
the  greatest  of  biblical  scholars  and  critics,  in  his  "His- 
tory of  Israel"  says:  "Man  created  a  divine  world  in  his 
own  image,  and  treated  the  Gods  of  it  as  he  liked  to  be 
treated  by  his  inferiors.  There  was  an  exchange  of  po- 
liteness between  trembling  man  and  the  potent  forces  by 
which  he  believed  himself  to  be  surrounded.  Primitive 
man  saw  in  thunder  naught  else  but  the  explosion  of  the 
wrath  of  an  all-powerful  being  dwelling  in  the  clouds  and 
on  the  summits  of  mountains.  This  primitive  man,  in 
his  savage  simplicity,  his  senses  scarcely  at  all  developed, 
became  the  dupe  of  his  own  hallucinations." 

This  author  further  savs;     "It  has  never  been  discov- 


And  Christian  Mythology.  17 

ered  that  a  supreme  being  concerns  himself  with  event* 
either  of  a  physical  or  moral  order;  no  signs  have  been 
discovered  in  nature  of  any  intelligent  agent  superior  to 
man;  nature  is  inexorable,  its  laws  are  blind;  prayer 
never  encounters  any  being  that  it  can  turn  from  its  pur- 
pose." 

As  to  the  effect  of  prayer,  this  author  only  states  what 
every  man  of  common  sense  knows  to  be  true.  But,  it 
may  be  asked,  Why  is  prayer  kept  up?  The  answer  is 
obvious:  Clergymen  get  their  living  by  it;  and  as  to 
others,  some  are  too  ignorant  to  understand  anything, 
and  some  act  from  force  of  habit. 

The  philosophers  of  Greece  and  Rome,  ever  refusing 
to  accept  the  religion  of  their  times,  were  by  the  pious 
denounced  as  Infidels  and  Atheists.  These  religious 
men  claimed  that  what  had  been  believed  and  main- 
tained by  pious  men  in  olden  times,  and  had  stood  the 
test  of  ages,  must  be  true,  but,  says  Renan,  "Philosophy 
and  reason  dispelled  ignorance,  created  doubts,  and 
finally  religion  was  buried  beneath  its  myths  and  fables." 

Robert  Burton,  the  author  of  "The  Anatomy  of  Melan- 
choly," made  an  apt  statement  when  he  said,  "Ignorance 
is  the  mother  of  devotion."  The  proof  of  this  is  shown 
by  the  facts  that  the  three  most  religious  nations  in  the 
world,  Spain,  Italy,  and  Portugal,  exhibit  an  average  of 
seventy-three  persons  out  of  every  hundred  who  can 
neither  read  nor  write,  while  Germany,  France,  England, 
and  the  United  States  average  less  than  eight  per  cent 
who  cannot  read  or  write.  Germany,  the  hast  relig 
of  all,  has  less  than  one-half  of  one  per  c<  tit.  who  cannot 
read  or  write,  while  in  and  tin-  ( Central  and  South 

American  states,  nearlv  all  of  the  educated  people  are 


18  Commentaries  on  Hebreiu 

Freethinkers,  and  nearly  all,  if  not  all,  of  the  ignorant  be- 
long to  the  church. 

Chaldea,  its  Territory,  People,  Religion,  and  Language. 

First:  Its  Territory. — Before  proceeding  to  the  discus- 
sion of  Hebrew  mythology,  it  will  be  in  order,  first,  to 
take  a  cursory  view  of  Chaldea,  its  territory,  people,  re- 
ligion, and  language,  which  have  contributed  so  largely 
to  the  stock  of  ideas  held  and  promulgated  by  the  tribes 
of  Israel. 

The  Hebrews  were  of  Semitic  stock  or  origin,  and  are 
supposed  to  have  led  a  primitive  life  in  Arabia,  whence 
they  migrated  to  Chaldea,  some  of  them  settling  in  the 
city  of  Ur.  At  a  very  early  date,  and  before  Chaldea  had 
risen  to  a  state  of  importance,  the  eastern  part  of  the 
country  was  known  as  Elam,  of  which  Ur  was  the  capi- 
tal city;  and  when  the  territory  of  Elam  had  ceased  to 
exist  as  a  separate  kingdom,  and  had  been  lost  or  merged 
in  Chaldea,  Ur  remained  for  a  time  the  principal  city  of 
the  Chaldees.  It  was  located  on  the  west  branch  of  the 
Euphrates,  near  where  that  river,  at  that  early  time,  en- 
tered the  Persian  Gulf.  The  territory  of  Elam  never  ex- 
tended north  of  the  low  flat  country  at  the  head  of  that 
gulf,  but  it  extended  east  over  the  land  of  Persia.  Dun- 
gi,  one  of  its  earliest  known  kings,  ruled  over  the  country 
at  least  as  early  as  2400  years  B.  C.  About  2200  years 
B.  C.  the  Elamites  overran  and  conquered  the  land  of 
Chaldea,  which  lay  at  the  north  of  Elam ;  and  about  2000 
B.  C.  Chaldea  united  with  Babylon,  and  under  their  king, 
Chedorlaomar,  war  was  made  on  Elam,  which,  after  a 
long  struggle,  surrendered.  These  peoples,  being 
merged  into  one,  fixed  their  capital  at  Ur.  From  this 
time  on,  the  countrv  remained  under  one  monarch  under 


And  Christian  Mythology.  19 

the  general  appellation  of  Chaldea  or  Chaldeo-Babylonia, 
under  which  name  or  names  it  continued  to  grow  in 
wealth  and  power  for  a  long  period.  The  capital  being 
finally  removed  to  the  city  of  Babylon,  the  country  took 
the  name  of  Babylonia. 

According  to  the  opinion  of  most  historians,  the  myth- 
ical Abraham  became  a  prominent  figure  in  the  city  of  Ur 
of  the  Chaldees,  about  2000  B.  C,  but  according  to  the 
reckoning  of  Josephus,  Abraham  lived  about  1836  B.  C. 

About  2000  B.  C.  the  country  was  invaded  from  Arabia 
by  a  people  known  as  Semites.  This  people  set  up  their 
rulers  and  held  the  country  for  a  short  period,  when 
Babylon  threw  off  this  foreign  yoke,  and  re-established 
her  power;  but  the  wars  which  followed  between  Baby- 
lon and  Assyria  put  the  former  in  a  position  to  pay  trib- 
ute to  the  latter  for  short  periods.  Finally  Babylon  fell 
a  prey  to  its  more  powerful  neighbor  on  the  north,  and 
became  a  part  of  the  Assyrian  Empire. 

When  Assyria  fell  under  the  yoke  of  Persia.  Babylon 
ceased  to  exist,  but  the  great  city  retained  its  name  and 
influence  until  its  final  destruction  by  Alexander  tin- 
Great.  332  B.  C. 

The    People   of  Chaldea. 

Second:  The  People  of  Chaldea. —  It  is  said,  and  often 
repeated  by  historians,  with  some  discrepancy  of  opin- 
ion, that  the  whole  of  the  countr)  called  Mesopotamia 
was  settled  by  a  yellow  race  called  Turanian;  and  that  the 
Arvans  or  white  race  migrated  from  southern  Russia  or 
Afghanistan,  and  mixed  with  the  Turanian,  thereby  creat- 
ing a  new  stock.  Tt  is  also  both  asserted  and  denied  that 
>pia  sent  into  this  country  some  of  her  people  called 
Cu^hites.  who  had   nirlv  or  WOOllV  hair,  who,  witfn  the 


20  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

Semites  from  Arabia,  made  up  the  Chaldeo-Babylonian 
race. 

Let  it  be  here  said  that,  while  very  much  has  been  as- 
serted by  historians  as  to  the  prehistoric  migrations  of 
the  various  races  of  mankind,  very  little  is  known;  most 
of  such  statements  are  mere  conjecture.  Every  country 
at  the  dawn  of  history  has  been  found  peopled  by  a  race 
who  asserted  that  they  had  come  into  the  country  from 
elsewhere,  and  had  either  driven  out,  exterminated,  or 
mixed  with  the  people  found  there.  It  is  quite  well  estab- 
lished that  the  Chaldeans  differed  but  slightly  in  appear- 
ance, manners,  customs,  and  religion  from  the  numerous 
tribes  or  peoples  who  at  that  epoch  lived  in  the  country 
bordering  on  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean, 
and  more  especially  the  Canaanites. 

Now  let  us  return  and  see  how  near  we  can  fix  the  date 
when  the  little  band  of  Semites  conceived  the  first  idea  of 
the  oneness  of  divine  power,  and  from  what  source  they 
derived  it.  As  to  the  time  when  the  so-called  Abraham 
of  the  Chaldees  resided  at  Ur,  authors  do  not  agree.  Jose- 
phus  says  that  the  430  years  which  is  the  biblical  account 
of  the  time  the  Hebrews  were  in  Egypt,  were  evenly  di- 
vided between  Palestine  and  Egypt,  215  years  in  each 
country.  If  this  be  correct,  assuming  that  Moses  lived 
1400  B.  C,  it  would  fix  Abraham's  time  in  Chaldea  at 
1800  B.  C. ;  but  this  does  not  agree  with  the  account 
given  by  numerous  other  historians.  While  all  agree 
that  Josephus  was  an  honest  historian,  the  same  opinion 
says  that  he  was  very  inaccurate.  It  is  quite  certain  that 
he  did  not  have  the  resources  for  his  facts  that  we  possess 
concerning  Abraham  and  Moses.  As  to  the  time  of 
Moses,  authorities  differ,  placing  him  from  1300  to  1500 
B.  C.     Several  fix  the  time  at  1315  to  1320  B.  C,  and  this 


And  Christian  Mythology.  21 

seems  the  more  reliable.  Assuming  the  time  of  Moses 
to  be  1320  B.  C,  we  shall  find  Abraham  at  Lr  about  2100 
B.  C.  It  becomes  important  to  know  what  were 
the  religious  sentiments  of  the  people  of  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees  at  this  date,  so  as  to  find  the  source  from 
which  sprang  the  notion  of  a  single  divinity.  We  have 
ample  evidence  that  the  Chaldean  divinities  were 
numerous  at  that  time.  They  were  divided  into  three 
classes.  The  third  class  was  extremely  numerous,  com- 
prising many  of  the  household  Gods  which  had  not  be- 
come extinct.  The  first  two  classes  were  made  up  of 
trinities.  The  names  of  the  three  comprising  the  first 
class  were  Anu,  El,  and  Hea;  El  is  often  called  Bell,  and 
Hea  called  Ea. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  speak  of  the  first  triad,  who, 
as  it  will  hereafter  appear,  were  the  progenitors  of  Jeho- 
vah. Of  these  celestial  beings,  Anu,  El,  and  Ilea,  each 
possessed  special  attributes  and  was  assigned  special 
duties.  In  that  age  of  the  world  the  tendency  was  to 
personify  the  heavenly  bodies,  the  phenomena  of  nature, 
the  rivers,  mountains,  peoples,  tribes,  and  nations;  in 
short,  nearly  every  important  thing  and  event  received 
an  individual  name.  These  three  divinities  were  the  per- 
sonified representatives  of  the  sun,  the  earth,  and  the 
waters. 

Anu  had  his  abode  in  the  upper  hca\cns  beyond  the 
'1  of  mortal  eyes,  and  so  was  little  known  and  wor- 
shiped; lie  had    a    general  supervision    over    the    1      er 
'  .  and  a  temple  al  Erech.     El  was  the  of  nil 

things,  the  manager  and  general  superintendent  over  all 
mankind;  he  ereated  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  di- 
the  land  from  the  waters,  and,  accordin 

iids,  which  have  come  down  to  us  in  writing,  he  made 


22  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth,  and  called  him  Admi.  He 
also  created  the  beasts  of  the  held,  the  fowls  of  the  air, 
and  the  hshes  and  monsters  of  the  deep.  He  gave  Admi 
a  wife,  and  placed  the  pair  in  a  garden  through  which 
flowed  four  rivers.  The  pair  were  commanded  by  El  not 
to  eat  of  the  fruit  of  a  certain  tree;  they  were  tempted  by 
a  serpent,  disobeyed  the  command,  and  were  for  this 
reason  driven  from  the  garden  and  a  flaming  sword  was 
put  at  the  gate  to  prevent  a  re-entry.  This  legend  was  a 
representation  of  nature.  Admi  and  the  woman  were  but 
personifications  of  earth  and  water;  all  of  which  we  will 
describe  more  fully  hereafter  when  we  come  to  compare 
the  biblical  account  of  this  matter  with  the  Chaldean  ac- 
count of  it,  as  given  in  the  inscriptions  taken  out  of  the 
ruins  of  the  cities  in  that  country. 

El  was  also  a  God  of  war,  had  his  temples  in  all  the 
cities  of  Chaldea,  and  was  worshiped  from  the  Indus  to 
the  Nile.  The  sun  became  the  emblem  of  El,  and  as  the 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  were  produced  and  sup- 
ported by  the  light  and  heat  of  that  orb,  so  El  became 
the  first  object  of  worship.  It  was  to  him  that  prayers 
ind  sacrifices  were  offered ;  he  was  the  giver  of  the  har- 
vest, and  of  all  things  which  administered  to  the  comfort 
and  happiness  of  man.  In  the  course  of  time  Anu  and 
Hea  were  regarded  as  separate  attributes  of  the  all-power- 
ful Elo,  representing  the  three  cardinal  virtues  of  life; 
knowledge,  goodness,  and  power. 

Standing  by  themselves,  they  were  three  Gods  personi- 
fied as  Anu,  El,  and  Hea,  but  when  merged  into  one,  the 
•  me  took  the  name  of  Elohim.  It  will  be  remembered 
lhat  the  Hebrews  used  indiscriminately  the  names  of  El 
and  Elohim  down  to  the  time  of  the  exodus  from  Egypt, 
?nd  to  some  extent  these  names  were  in  use  by  them  in 


And  Christian  Mythology.  23 

connection  with  Iahveh  until  the  time  of  David  and 
Solomon,  when  Iahveh  or  Jehovah  was  substituted.  It 
is  now  generally  believed  that  the  true  pronunciation 
is  Jahwe,  or  Yahwe,  says  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

Hea,  when  standing  alone,  was  the  God  of  the  nether 
world,  the  waters  of  Hades  and  the  spirits  of  darkness. 
Ol  the  second-class  divinities  stood  Merodah,  Arabel,  and 
Sharmis.  The  first  had  a  shrine  at  Babylon,  the  second 
resided  at  Muru,  while  the  third  ruled  at  Larsa  and  Sip- 
para.  The  Goddess  Ishtar,  daughter  of  Hea,  was  the 
most  beloved  of  all  the  divinities;  she  had  her  temples  in 
all  of  the  principal  cities. 

Such  was  the  religious  sentiment  in  the  land  of  the 
Euphrates,  at  the  time  of  Abraham. 

Abraham,  Was  fie  a  Myth? 

Now  let  us  go  back  and  take  a  look  at  Abraham  in  the 
city  of  l'r  of  the  Chaldees,  where  the  Hebrew  legends 
find  him  a  genuine  person;  and  if  he  be  such,  we  will  go 
with  him  out  of  that  land,  cross  the  Euphrates,  stop  at  Ha- 
ran,  the  city  of  the  moon  God,  for  two  or  more  years,  and 
then  travel  with  him  into  the  promised  land. 

The   word  Abraham  was  written  and  pronounced  at 
Elan,  "(  'rliain,  Aborh-am,  and  Ab-Ram."   Somearchae- 
'  ave  asserted  and  maintained,  not  without  a  fair 
i  evidence,  that  the  word  Abraham  applied  to  a 
This    name   appears   on   the   inscriptions   found 
among  the  ruins  of  that  country  as  Aborham,  who  was 
one  of  the  <  t  one  of  the  tribes  which  mi- 

ted  from  l'r  to  Canaan  ignated  as  Ab-Ram. 

•  an,  thegreal  archaeologisl  and  biblical  critic,  says: 
"The  inhabitants  of  Padan  Aram  were  particularly  at- 
tached to  the  legend  of  the  fabled  ( >rham,  king  of  Ur, 


'21  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

and  called  him  Aborham;  who  was  represented  some- 
times as  a  man,  and  at  other  times  as  a  God.  The  tribes 
originally  ascribed  to  him  the  part  of  supreme  ancestor 
and  divine  patriarch;  the  Hebrews  pronounced  his  name 
Abraham,  which  they  interpreted,  father  of  many  na- 
tions, but  they  often  called  him  Ab-Ram,  the  mighty 
father." 

Renan  also  informs  us  that  the  Ishmaelites,  the  Midian- 
ites,  and  the  whole  series  of  Arab  tribes  grouped  under 
the  names  of  Cuthura  and  Agar,  were  classed  as  Abram- 
ites;  that  their  manners,  customs,  and  language  were 
much  the  same;  and  that  they  formed  one  vast  brother- 
hood from  Haran  to  southern  Palestine.  This  author 
further  says  that  among  the  tribes  devoted  to  the  worship 
of  El,  connected  with  the  mythical  Abraham,  was  Israel; 
that  Beni  Jacob,  or  Beni  Israel,  was  the  name  of  a  tribe 
which,  in  the  course  of  time,  became  personified  under 
the  name  of  Jacob,  and  that  this  tribe  worshiped  El ;  that 
Lot,  like  Abraham,  was  but  the  personification  of  another 
tribe.  Philo,  an  Alexandrian  Jew,  of  the  priestly  order, 
born  twenty  to  ten  yearsB.C.,taughtand  wrote  that  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  Jacob  were  but  personifications  of  three 
phases  or  elements  of  virtue;  and  such  were  the  teachings 
of  the  Rabbinical  schools  of  Palestine,  long  after  the  re- 
turn of  the  Hebrews  from  Egypt.  This  school  also 
taught  that  the  Pentateuch  and  the  legends  of  Moses 
were  but  allegorical;  its  literal  interpretation  was  an  ab- 
surdity, says  Philo.  In  order  to  make  Judaism  palatable 
to  the  refined  Greeks,  Philo  attempted  to  prove  to  them 
that  it  was  the  same  as  their  philosophy. 

Having  disposed  of  Abraham  as  a  myth,  let  us  return 
and  follow  the  growth  of  Israel,  from  the  little  germ 
formed  at  Ur,  until  it  has  become  a  power  in  the  land. 


And   Christian   Mytholuay.  25 

About  2200  years  B.  C.  the  plurality  of  divinities  in 
Chaldea  had  reached  its  limit,  when,  at  least,  the  Semites 
were  ripe  for  a  change. 

The  Germ  of  Judaism   ^ormed  at  Ur  of  the  Chaldees. 

It  has  been  maintained  with  much  force  by  eminent 
scholars,  that  man  never  originates  within  himself  an 
idea:  that  all  new  conceptions  are  suggested  to  him  by 
some  object  in  nature,  which  he  grasps  and  molds  into 
form. 

Taking  such  historical  facts  as  we  find  before  us,  and 
proceeding  according  to  the  method  of  induction,  may 
we  not  safely  say  that  a  little  group  of  Semites  had 
banded  themselves  together  to  remold  or  adjust  the  pre- 
vailing system  of  divinities?  The  city  of  Ur  was  in  a  hot 
country,  this  little  band  assembled  at  noonday  under  the 
wide-spreading  branches  of  the  fig  tree.  There  they 
talked  over  the  traditions  concerning  the  powers  of 
heaven,  in  which  they  saw  Gods  contending  in  battle 
among  themselves,  in  like  manner  as  the  tribes  of  the 
earth.     They  also  repeated  thi  Is    of    creation,  of 

Adam  and  Eve,  of  a  greal  flood,  and  man)'  oilier  marvel- 
ous occurrences;  and  they  wondered  if  all  these  things 
were  true.  They  read  in  this  tradition  that  in  bygone 
times  Asia  was  divided  up  into  small  tribes,  constantly 
at  war  with  each  oilier;  they  saw  their  own  country  ruled 
over  by  a  king,  a  single  monarch,  v  rned  and  pro- 

tected hi-  people  and  gave  them  peace  and  happii 
and  if  a  single  monarch  on  earth  (for  Asia  was  the  i 
to  them),  why  not  a     sir  narch  in  the 

Thev  had  thus  borrowed  the  germ,  and  grasped  at  its 
utility. 


26  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

From  this  little  beginning  sprang  the  ten  tribes  of  Is- 
rael, who  created  the  Rabbi,  who  established  the  ephod, 
which  was  replaced  by  the  oracles,  which  made  the 
prophets  who  foretold  the  Messiah,  who  selected  the 
apostles,  who  laid  the  egg  that  hatched  the  priestlet,  who 
established  the  Inquisition  that  drove  the  stake  and 
kindled  the  fire  that  consumed  unbelievers. 

Let  us  now  see  what  this  little  body  of  Semites  did  at 
Ur.  Ami  was  a  God  without  a  record  and  almost  without 
a  following ;  Hea  was  the  God  of  the  nether  world ;  while 
El,  our  great  solar  orb,  was  the  creator  of  all  things. 
Why  retain  the  other  two?  Of  what  use  were  they?  And 
as  for  the  other  classes  of  divinities,  they  were  countless. 
Why  not  accept  and  adore  El  as  the  sole  God,  even  if 
we  have  to  accept  his  consolidated  name,  Elohim?  And 
so  this  little  band  conceived  and  promulgated  the  theory 
of  a  single  God;  and  as  they  had  made  him,  why  should 
he  not  become  the  God  of  this  people — a  special  divinity, 
a  tribal  El?  And  as  he  became  their  God,  so  they  became 
his  children,  the  children  of  El.  In  the  language  of  that 
country,  to  say  that  they  were  his  children,  was  to  say 
Isra-El. 

But  there  was  another  faction  at  Ur,  which  was  at  a 
later  date  called  the  children  of  Ab-Ram;  although  their 
early  history  is  in  doubt.  If  Ab-Ram,  afterward  called 
Abraham,  was  one  of  the  mythological  demigods  of 
Elam  who  ruled  the  country  for  millions  of  years,  then 
the  matter  explains  itself  by  showing  that  the  other  fac- 
tion, though  monothcists  like  the  Israelites,  simply  chose 
another  divinity  in  the  place  of  El. 

If  we  can  give  any  credence  to  Hebrew  legends,  the 
Abramites  left  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  for  the  land  of  Canaan 
about  seven  hundred  years  before  Moses,  or  four  hundred 


And  Christian  Mythology.  27 

and  thirty  years,  according  to  Josephus.  Whether  they 
were  driven  out  in  consequence  of  their  opinions  and 
teachings  of  monotheism,  or  whether  they  left  of  their 
own  volition,  must  ever  remain  in  doubt,  for  history  is 
silent  on  this  point.  If  we  allow  ourselves  to  speculate 
on  probabilities,  we  may  assume  that  their  departure  was 
voluntary,  for  although  they  were  monotheists,  they  were 
not  entirely  weaned  from  the  worship  of  the  numerous 
Gods  of  the  country,  for  they  often  relapsed  into  their 
old  practices  and  offered  up  prayers  to  Anu,  El,  and  Hea. 
and  even  to  their  household  divinities. 

Semites  Cross  the  Euphrates  and  Become  Hebrews. 

Prior  to  the  time  of  their  migration  to  the  west,  these 
people  were  classed  under  the  general  head  of  Semites, 
but  when  they  left  their  native  country  and  crossed  the 
Euphrates, they  became  emigrants.  The  term  emigrant,  in 
the  language  of  that  country,  especially  when  applied  to 
those  who  had  crossed  waters,  was  expressed  by  the  word 
Hebrew.  The  word  Hebrew,  in  their  dialect,  is  the 
equivalent  of  emigrant  in  English;  in  other  words,  they 
are  convertible  terms.  This  people  from  that  time,  and 
in  consequence  of  that  act,  became  Hebrews. 

The  biblical  legends,  treating  Abraham  as  a  man,  make 
him  stop  at  I  lar.-m  for  over  two  years.  I  taran  was  a  large 
city,  and  the  home  of  Sin,  tin-  moon  God,  who  bad  a 
•  temple  there.  The  moon  deity  was  a  favorite  in 
Chaldea,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  sun's  heat  in  that 
dry,  parched-up  country  made  it  neces  ary  for  mosl  <>f  the 
travel  and  much  of  the  won.  to  be  performed  at  night, 
when  the  moon  afforded  lighl  withoul  heat 

What  object  could  have  induced  the  Abramite  i" 
tarrv  so  long  al   rlaran,  the  ol  the  moon  God, 


28  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

other  than  the  worship  of  that  divinity?  That  they  did 
worship  at  that  shrine  we  have  ample  evidence.  After 
this  long  stay  at  Haran,  the  Abramites  moved  on  to 
Canaan. 

The  history  of  the  Israelites  from  this  time  until  their 
return  from  Egypt  is  very  meager;  in  short,  what  is 
claimed  as  knowledge  on  this  subject  is  little  better  than 
guess.  Some  few  things,  however,  are  quite  well  estab- 
lished, among  which  it  may  be  said  that  they  were  a 
nomadic  people,  herding  their  flocks,  and  living  on  the 
milk  and  flesh  of  their  animals.  What  little  knowledge 
they  possessed  was  confined  to  the  priestly  order. 

If  we  accept  the  biblical  account  of  430  years  in  Egypt, 
and  600  years  in  all,  then  this  people  remained  in  Canaan 
170  years.  If  we  accept  Josephus'  account,  the  tin.e 
spent  in  Palestine  was  215  years. 

From  the  foregoing  we  have  learned  that  Ab-Ram,  af- 
terward called,  by  the  Hebrews,  Abraham,  was  at  an 
early  date  treated  as  one  of  the  Gods  of  Elam,  and  we  are 
also  in  possession  of  other  facts  tending "  to  show 
that  Abraham  was  the  tribal  God  of  the  Abramites,  after- 
ward known  as  Judaites,  or  the  tribe  of  Judah.  We  have 
ample  evidence  that  there  were  at  Elam  several  peoples, 
or  tribes,  known  as  Semites,  and  that  the  tendency  of  all 
the  Semitic  peoples  was  toward  monotheism,  and  that 
the  tribe  or  clan  which  afterward  became  known  as 
L  raclitcs,  not  only  while  in  Elam  and  Chaldea,  but  for  a 
long  time  thereafter  and  until  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Sol- 
•mon,  continued  to  worship  the  Chaldean  God,  El.  His- 
tory also  informs  us  that  about  2,000  B.  C.  the  Abramites 
migrated  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  to  the  land  of  Canaan, 
but  when  the  Israelites  left  Elam  the  records  are  silent. 
We  first  learn  of  that  people  in  Canaan,  where  the  Abram- 


And  Christian  Mythology.  29 

ites  and  the  Israelites  lived  entirely  separate,  with  noth- 
ing in  common,  other  than  that  both  were  monotheists. 

We  also  learn  that  the  two  peoples  went  into  Egypt  at 
different  times,  each  going  by  itself,  and  that  they  did  not 
fraternize  in  the  land  of  the  Pharaohs;  we  also  learn  that 
the  Abramites,  or  at  least  their  priests,  on  leaving  Egypt 
cast  off  the  God  Ab-Ram  and  accepted  the  Egyptian 
Iahveh.  After  their  return  to  Canaan  their  history  be- 
comes quite  clear.  The  Israelites,  worshipers  of  El,  or 
Elohim,  settled  in  the  north,  and  the  Abramites,  former 
worshipers  of  Ab-Ram,  now,  at  least  so  far  as  their 
priests  were  concerned,  worshipers  of  Iahveh,  settled  at 
the  south,  with  Jerusalem  as  their  capital. 

Mr.  Renan  et  al  inform  us  that  during  the  reigns  of 
David  and  Solomon,  each  tribe,  or  people,  commenced 
to  write  up,  from  tradition,  the  stories  of  creation,  of  the 
flood  and  the  history  of  Moses,  and  that  the  two  pe<  ; 
or  their  priests,  continued  each  to  worship  its  own  God 
until  about  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Solomon,  when  both 
agreed  on  Iahveh  or  Jehovah,  as  the  one  divinity  in  the 
place  and  stead  of  Elohim  and  Ab-Ram.  I  hit  the  names, 
Jew  for  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  Israel  for  the  worshipers 
ihim,  still  remain  distinct,  being  used  indis- 
criminately for  both  peoples. 

The  Hebrews  Go  into  Egypt. 

Renan  says:     "The  first  era  the  Hebr< 

into  Egypt  was  composed  of  t' 
place  at  two  different  time 
have  been  on  good  terms  with  the  Hittiti 
while  the  bulk  of  the  tribe  remained  on 
with  the  Hittites  of  Hebron.     The  in,  which 

settled  in  Egypt,  was  called  the  clan  of  Josephel,  or  thr 


30  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

Beni-Joseph.  The  second  lot,  finding  the  Josephel  He- 
brews well  settled,  followed  and  settled  in  the  land  of 
Goshen,  but  the  different  factions  did  not  fraternize." 

This  author  informs  us  that  the  Hebrews  at  this  time 
had  no  writings,  and  that  it  appears,  from  the  most  trust- 
worthy authority  we  have,  that  their  sojourn  in  Egypt 
was  only  about  one  hundred  years.  As  to  the  exodus,  he 
concludes  that  it  took  place  under  Seti  II;  but  we  cannot 
accept  these  statements  as  true  in  the  face  of  other  evi- 
dence. The  time  spent  in  Canaan  could  not,  according 
to  some  authorities,  have  exceeded  one  hundred  years. 
Renan,  one  of  our  best  authorities,  fixes  the  time  at  one 
hundred  years.  This  is  probably  predicated  largely  on 
natural  increase  and  the  small  number  of  people  who,  at 
the  date  of  the  exodus,  could  have  found  support  on  the 
desert  of  Paran,  even  for  as  short  a  period  as  two  years; 
but  it  will  be  seen  that  these  statements  do  not  support 
either  the  biblical  account  or  Josephus;  for,  according  to 
the  former,  we  have  700  years ;  and  by  the  latter,  we  have 
430  years. 

On  this  state  of  the  evidence,  we  shall  be  forced  to  con- 
clude that  no  definite  time  can  be  fixed  in  either  place. 

Egyptian  Influence  on  the  Hebrew. 

That  the  Hebrews  while  in  Egypt  adopted  the  religion 
and  other  practices  of  the  Egyptians,  seems  to  admit  of 
no  doubt.  They  worshiped  Astata  and  Iahveh,  also 
Adoni,  the  sun  God;  they  also  joined  the  Egyptians  in 
the  worship  of  other  local  divinities ;  but  in  these  practices 
they  did  not  forget  Elohim,  the  sun  God  of  Chaldea. 
They  also  adopted  most  of  the  religious  ceremonies  and 
customs  of  the  people  with  whom  they  were  located,  as 
will  be  shown   further  on.      These  numerous  divinities 


And  Christian  3fr/fholor/y.  31 

continued  to  be  worshiped  by  the  Hebrews  up  to  the 
time  of  Moses,  when  the  priests  attempted  to  substitute 
Iahveh  in  conjunction  with  Elohim  in  the  place  and  stead 
of  all  other  deities,  for  they  were  not  unmindful  of  the 
fact  that  their  people,  while  in  Egypt,  had  lost  sight  of 
the  one-god  theory  in  the  worship  of  the  numerous  divin- 
ities of  the  Egyptians.  As  the  great  body  of  the  Hebrews 
were  extremely  ignorant,  it  was  no  easy  task  of  the 
priests  to  turn  them  from  their  newly-acquired  idols,  and 
this  is  fully  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  even  Aaron,  while 
at  Sinai,  set  up  the  golden  calf,  the  Apis  bull  of  Egvpt, 
and  the  brazen  serpent  for  his  people  to  worship.  Even 
up  to  the  time  of  Rehoboam,  the  Egyptian  with  many  of 
the  Canaanite  divinities  were  not  only  favorites  of  the 
people,  but  even  of  some  of  the  priests  of  Israel. 

Hebrews  as  Herdsmen  in  Egypt. 

The  migration  of  the  Hebrews  from  Canaan  into 
Ecrvpt  was  owing  to  the  drouth,  and  the  failure  to  obtain 
feed  for  their  cattle  in  Canaan,  for  the  Jews  were  living  in 
tents  and  moving  from  place  to  place  with  their  herds  in 
search  of  better  pasture;  they  had  obtained  permission 
from  the  Egvptians  to  live  and  pasture  their  herds  on  the 
lowlands  of  the  delta  near  the  .Mediterranean.  They  went 
there  in  two  bodies  at  different  times,  Josephus  says  " 
enty  souls  in  all,  and  after  two  hundred  and  fift< 
they  left  the  country  with  800,000  men,  1"  men 

and  children."  If  to  this  last  number  we  add  women  and 
children,  the  whole  number  at  the  time  of  their  exit  OU,t 
of  Egvpt.  ronld  not  have  been  less  than  3.000,000.     This 

statement  must  he  erroneous,  for  nearly  nil  the  Hebrews 
^f  Canaan  went  into  Egypt,  and  as  d  in 

the  former  countrv  for  at  least  one  or  two  hundred  years, 


32  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

their  number  must  have  far  exceeded  seventy  souls; 
probably  they  numbered  several  thousands.  And  as  to 
the  statement  that  their  number  at  the  exodus  was  800,- 
000  men,  this  must  have  been  overdrawn,  for,  as  they  de- 
pended on  the  scanty  products  of  the  desert  for  subsis- 
tence, it  is  hardly  to  be  credited  that  such  a  large  army 
could  have  found  sufficient  food  during  the  long  stay  in 

the  desert. 

Hebrews  as  Nomads. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  the  Hebrews,  during  all  the 
period  of  time  while  in  Chaldea,  in  Canaan,  in  Egypt,  and 
long  after  their  return  to  the  promised  land,  remained  a  no- 
madic people,  having  no  fixed  abode,  living  in  tents  and  on 
the  milk  and  flesh  of  their  animals,  wandering  from  place 
to  place,  and  from  pasture  to  pasture,  in  search  of  feed 
for  their  stock.  Rich  in  herds  and  in  ignorance,  the  He- 
brews thus  lived  in  blissful  simplicity,  dreaming  of  a 
celestial  paradise  ruled  over  by  a  single  God,  our  solar 
orb,  under  the  consolidated  name  of  Elohim,  until  ex- 
changed by  Moses  for  Jehovah.  Thus  they  continued 
to  live  for  more  than  a  thousand  years  after  all  the  peo- 
ples and  nations  around  them  had  reached  a  high  state  of 
civilization. 

Geology  and  history  teach  us  that  man  passes  through 
three  stages  of  existence.  First,  he  is  a  savage,  a  hunter, 
living  on  game  and  wild  fruits.  Second,  from  the  savage 
state  he  passes  into  a  barbarous  or  semi-civilized  state, 
living  on  the  milk  and  flesh  of  his  herds,  and  wandering 
from  place  to  place.  Lastly,  he  emerges  from  his  semi- 
savage,  nomadic  condition,  becomes  a  tiller  of  the  soil  in 
a  fixed  home,  living  on  the  products  of  his  own  labor.  It 
is  only  when  he  reaches  this  last  step  that  he  can  be 
classed  as  civilized. 


And  Christian  Mythology.  'S'6 

All  of  the  religions  have  had  their  birth  with  man  in 
his  first  or  second  stage;  for  man,  when  civilized,  ac- 
counts for  the  various  phenomena  of  nature  on  scientific 
principles,  and  thereby  has  no  occasion  to  attribute  such 
things  to  unknown  beings. 

Moses  and  the  Exodus. 

This  brings  us  to  the  time  or  epoch  when  the  name  of 
Moses  and  the  exodus  appear  on  the  scene  of  Hebrew 
mythology.  And  here  the  question  is  presented,  Was 
Moses  a  real  character,  and  the  exodus  a  fact?  or  was  it 
a  mere  fiction?  It  has  been  contended  by  writers  whose 
statements  are  worthy  of  serious  consideration,  that 
Moses  had  no  real  existence.  The  Rev.  A.  H.  Sayce,  the 
archaeologist,  in  his  work  entitled  "Records  of  the 
Past,"  speaking  of  the  Sun  God  of  Chaldean  mythology, 
says:  "We  learn  from  a  Babylonian  text,  recently  dis- 
covered in  upper  Egypt,  that  his  (Moses*)  title  was  Mosu, 
the  hero,  a  word  which  is  letter  for  letter  the  same  as  the 
Hebrew  Moshoh."  He  further  says  that  this  name  dates 
i.)  Accadian  cosmology,  where  Mosu  (Moses)  was 
deified  as  the  sun  God.  The  learned  Huet,  Vbssius, 
Dark,  and  other  writers  give  a  long  list  of  parallel  a< 
Mo^cs  and  the  Egyptian  Bacchus,  and  assert  thai  they 
one  and  the  same,  ami  that  the  mythical  Bacchus 

the  one. 
While  Renan  thinks  that  Moses  had  a  real  existence, 

tys:    "The  man  has  been  buried  beneath  the  legends 

that  have  grown  up  around  him.  until  his  real  chan 

is  l.,  :  in  an  ocean  of  myths."    This  author  says  that  no 

writings  have  been  found  concerning  hi<  b  can 

,  within  -  after  his  death;  that, 

rding  to  the  Thora,  v'  '  his  men  against    the 


34  Commentaries  on  Hebreio 

Moabites;  but  that,  in  the  Book  of  Wars  of  Iahveh,  he  had 
disappeared  before  reaching  this  people. 

Manetho,  in  his  Egyptian  history,  gives  Moses  a  per- 
sonal existence,  and  informs  us  that  the  man's  real  name 
was  Osarsiph,  which  was  changed  to  Moses  at  the  time  he 
took  his  people  out  of  Egypt. 

These  authorities  can  be  reconciled  only  on  the  hy- 
pothesis that  the  name  Moses  had  a  place,  not  only 
among  the  Gods  of  Chaldea,  but  also  with  the  celestial 
beings  of  Egypt.  Assuming  such  to  be  the  case,  this 
man  had  a  reason  for  casting  off  the  name  of  Osar- 
siph and  assuming  that  of  Moses,  as  he  thereby  became 
the  divine  ruler  of  his  people;  for  a  man  who  could  suc- 
cessfully lead  his  people  out  of  Egypt  would  find  it  an 
easy  task  to  convince  them  that  he  was  of  divine  origin. 
Times  then  were  easy,  when  Gods  were  created  with  little 
difficulty,  and  with  as  little  effort  the  multitude  were  in- 
duced to  render  homage. 

Josephus  says,  "Moses  was  appointed  general,  and 
with  his  army  drove  the  Ethiopians  out  of  Egypt;"  but 
we  must  remember  that  Josephus  derived  most  of  his  in- 
formation concerning  Moses  from  Hebrew  legends.  We 
are  told  in  biblical  records  that  Moses,  after  being  per- 
mitted to  leave  the  country,  gathered  up  the  Israelites. 
600,000  men,  besides  the  women  and  children,  and  with 
so  vast  a  horde  marched  to  the  Red  Sea,  where  with  a 
small  rod  he  divided  the  waters  of  that  sea  and  passed 
through,  and  that  the  whole  Egyptian  army,  attempting 
to  follow  them,  was  swallowed  up.  This  is  a  remarkable 
story,  hardly  able  to  stand  alone,  when  we  take  into  con- 
sideration the  fact  that,  at  that  time,  the  Egyptians  kept 
full  accounts  of  their  wars  and  all  other  important  events 
of  their  country,  and    that    there  has  never  been  found 


And  Christian  Mythology.  35 

among  the  records  or  traditions  of  that  people  as  much 
as  a  mention  of  the  loss  of  the  Egyptian  army  in  the  Red 
Sea.  The  biblical  statement  stands  without  support.  All 
of  this,  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  Mosaic  ex- 
ploits at  Mount  Sinai,  and  the  numerous  conversations, 
contracts,  covenants,  oaths,  and  conspiracies  between 
him  and  Jehovah,  as  reported  in  the  Hebrew  writing, 
seems  to  warrant  the  conclusion  that  the  whole  record  of 
his  exploits  is  but  a  myth.  Such  were  the  teachings  of 
the  Rabbinical  schools  of  Canaan  500  years  after  Moses' 
death.  The  biblical  story  of  Moses'  birth,  that  he  was 
placed  in  a  basket  of  rushes,  put  on  the  Nile,  where 
he  was  picked  up,  and  reared  in  the  king's  family,  is  so 
much  like  the  Chaldean  story  and  legend  told  of  Sargon, 
who  ruled  Assyria  1600  B.  C,  that  one  can  readily  be- 
lieve the  former  was  borrowed  by  the  author  of  the  He- 
brew account  from  the  latter  story. 

The  Chaldean  inscriptions,  wherein  Sargon  tells  his 
own  story,  read  as  follows:  "My  mother  was  a  prim 
my  father  I  did  not  know  (nor  did  Muses).  My  mother 
placed  me  in  an  ark  of  rushes,  with  bitumen;  my  exit  she 
scaled  up.  She  launched  me  on  the  river  (Euphral 
which  did  not  drown  me.  The  river  carried  me  to  Akki; 
the  water  it  brought  me.  Akki,  the  water-carrier,  in  ten- 
derness of  bowel,  lifted  me.  Akki,  the  water-carrier,  as 
his  child  broughl  mc  up.  Akki,  the  water-carrier,  as  his 
husbandman  placed  mc." 

Sargon   was  an  r,  and    ruled    fort)  five  •■■ 

All  of  these  things  belong  to  the  age  of  fables  and  myths. 
There  are  also  other  circumstances  in  support  of  this  the- 
ory, of  too  much  signi 

was  a  man  of  so  much  importance  as  the  Hebrew  writ- 
ings make  him  to  appear,  it  is  hardl  le,  1  tr,  al 


Gom^ntaries  on  Hebrew 

ceremoniously   dropped  out ^g  ^^ 

peared  from  history,  ^"^^th  a„d  burial  should 
?he  time,  place  and  mann *£»■        not  deal  in  this  way 

rheHe6«>vs/romnrhe^capt.wv 

The  Hy.sos.-A  history  -J* -£«£-  ££ 
dren  of  Israel  from  ^t  Hyksos,  or  Shepherd  Kings 
without  some  men «™^™l  clo  ely  allied  to  the  He 
as  they  were  called,  who  were  »  J  ^^  ^ 
brews  in  peace,  «  war ^and  m    ^  Mesop, 

Hyksos  originally  **»*»£  which  must  ever  remc 
tamia,  or  Bactna,  are  ****£  ed  diverse  op 

in  doubt.    Different  authors  ha* ^ P  ^ 

ions  on  this  point  all  of  wh  ch  to  ^  ^  po, 

nre,  as  there  is  httle  or  no  d   ect  feut  t 

beyond  the  character  and  features  ^  ^  fl 

much  can,  with  reasotobl «^,  Turanian  fa 

they  belonged  to  the  Semtttc ^bran  sQmewhat  „ 

ny>  or  stock,  and  were  »°«°»     were  not  a  bran 
certain  whether  at  an  eariy  *  *    JT        ^  Qpi 

of  the  Hebrews.    Josephus  lea  uncertam,  1 

When  the  Hyksos  im  "^'^fcenturies  before  , 
•  nmst  have  been  iro»»*    country,  for  on 
first  stock  of  Hebrews  settled  m  int0 

"ranee  of  the  f'£  ™^0fon"  settled  in  la 


And  CItI si ',<> I*  Mythology.  37 

Egypt.  It  was  the  Shepherd  Kings,  or  Pharaohs,  who 
pei  nutted  the  Hebrews  to  settle  mere.  Manetho,  an 
Egyptian  high  priest,  and  reliable  historian,  who  wrote 
the  history  of  Egypt  from  the  time  of  Menu,  the  first 
king,  down  to  his  time,  about  the  middle  of  the  third  cent- 
ury B.  C,  in  speaking  of  the  Hyksos,  says  that  during 
the  reign  of  Timaus,  there  came  an  invasion  from  the 
east,  men  of  ignoble  birth,  who  subdued  the  Egyptians, 
and  set  up  a  king  of  their  own,  whom  they  called  Salatis, 
who  made  Memphis  his  home;  that  he  rebuilt  and  forti- 
fied Avaris,  and  that  he  and  his  descendants  ruled  the 
country  five  hundred  and  eleven  years;  that  at  the  end  of 
this  time,  upper  and  lower  Egypt  revolted,  and  with  a 
great  army,  and  after  a  long  war,  finally  shut  up  the  1 I  yk- 
sos  in  Avaris:  that  Timaus,  not  being  able  to  take  the 
city  by  force,  allowed  the  Ilyksos  to  take  their  families 
mil  depart;  that  they  went  into  Syria  and  built  a  city 
vhich  they  called  Jerusalem.  It  may  be  said  here  that 
here  is  nothing  running  counter  to  this  statement  of 
lanetho  that  the  Hyksos  built  that  city.  The  town  was 
riginally  railed  Salem,  and  went  by  that  name  until  the 
onquest  of  Canaan,  when  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 

.  after  which  it  was  called  the  Salem  of  the  Jew 
ews'  Salem,  and  finally  corrupted  into  Jerusalem. 

The  Hebrews  in  Egypt. 

At  the  risk  of  a  little  repetition,  let  it  he  said  thai  the 
[•'.-ews  went  int..  Egypl  from  the  land  <>f  Canaan  in 
t  least  two  divisions,  and  son:  rable  distance  of 

line  '  them.  Iment,  led  by  the 

\bramit<  ,  and  some  timeth<  re 

fter  a  much  larger  bod  and 

verc  assigned  lands  in  the  delta  for  thei  and  their 


38  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

herds,  for  they  were  shepherds  or  herdsmen  like  the 
Hyksos,  and  were  equally  despised  by  the  Egyptians, 
who  looked  on  the  roaming  life  of  such  people  with  con- 
tempt. The  Hebrews  were  low  and  ignorant,  forming  a 
wide  contrast  to  the  highly  civilized,  cultivated,  and  re- 
fined Egyptians.  It  is  no  wonder  that  such  a  cultivated 
people  looked  down  with  contempt  on  a  lot  of  herdsmen, 
a  little  above  their  cattle  in  the  scale  of  advancement,  but 
the  Egyptians  were  not  in  power;  as  before  stated,  the 
country  was  under  the  dominion  of  the  Hyksos,  who,  if 
they  did  not  invite  the  Hebrews  into  the  country,  re- 
ceived them  with  open  arms  as  friends  and  fellow-wor- 
shipers of  a  single  deity. 

The  Sojourn  of  the  Hebrews  in  Egypt. 

As  before  stated,  the  duration  of  the  sojourn  of  the 
children  of  Israel  in  the  land  of  the  Pharaohs  will  never 
be  setued,  as  there  is  a  great  diversity  of  opinion. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  safely  said  that  a  majority  of  the 
writers,  basing  their  opinions  on  the  genealogical  table 
of  the  Levitcs,  have  fixed  the  sojourn  at  about  two  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  years,  but  they  do  not  make  this  claim 
with  much  degree  of  certainty,  owing  to  the  dearth  of 
evidence  in  support  of  their  opinion.  Bunsen,  after  a 
thorough  research,  concludes  that  they  must  have  been 
in  Egypt  as  much  as  fourteen  centuries,  and  that  they 
left  the  country  in  the  reign  of  Menephthah,  about  1320 
or  1314  B.  C.  This  author  assumed,  on  the  statements  of 
the  writer  of  the  Torah,  that  the  fighting  force  of  the  He- 
brews at  the  time  of  their  exit  was  600,000,  to  which  add 
the  old  and  the  young  and  the  women,  and  we  have  from 
two  and  a  half  to  three  millions,  which  is  believed  by 
many  writers  to  be  about  the  number  who  left  the  coun- 


And  Christian  Mythology.  39 

try.  On  this  assumption  Bunsen  concludes  that  it  would 
take  at  least  fourteen  centuries  of  natural  increase  to 
make  this  number,  and  this  is  the  only  reason  put  forth 
by  him  on  which  to  base  his  conclusion.  In  order  to 
agree  with  this  author,  we  should  be  forced  to  accept  his 
major  premises,  which  we  think  to  be  unwarranted,  in 
view  of  the  well-known  fact  that  the  number  who  went 
into  the  country  is  unknown. 

The  time  when,  Bunsen  says,  the  Hebrews  left  the 
country,  1320  or  1314,  agrees  with  the  time  stated  by 
Manetho  when  they  w  ere  driven  out.  The  writer  of  Exo- 
dus (believed  to  be  Ezra)  says  that  the  sojourn  of  the 
children  of  Israel  in  Egypt  was  430  years,  adding  that 
they  left  the  land  the  selfsame  day  on  which  they  entered 
it.  These  two  statements,  so  flatly  contradicting  each 
other,  will  hardly  be  taken  as  much  authority,  and  if  the 
author  is  no  more  reliable  in  other  matters  than  in  this,  his 
statement  that  the  Red  Sea.  at  the  command  of  Moses, 
opened  up  to  allow  his  people  to  pass  through,  and  then 
d  in  on  •  ptian  army,  sin  mid  receive  little  or 

no  consideration  what* 

it  required  the  suspension    of   a   law  of  nature  to 
this  alleged  miracle,  the  intelligent  trader  of  to-day 
will  be  inclined  to  reject  the  entire  Story  as  a  fart,  and  as 

•'.  it  a  place  among  fablc>  and  myths.    In  the  days  <>f 
["(  -I.  the  more  enlightened  Jews  treated  the 

nloiis  par!  of  the  story  with  contempt,  while  it  has 
tin-     fashion    among    tin-   more  advanced 

tians  of  this  time  to  .  xplain  away  the  miracle,  by  as- 
serting that  the  exit  was  across  the  marshes  at  the  north 

end  of  the  sea.     This  miracle  has  its  parallel  in  the  state 

ment,  jusl  .-i  well  authenticated,  that  the  Pamphylian  Sea 
opened  ;it  the  command  of  Alexander  to  allow  Ins  army 


40  ( Commentaries  on   Hebrew 

to  cross  it.  Take  away  the  miracle  of  the  Red  Sea,  and 
with  it  falls  the  whole  exodus  story  as  told  by  its  author, 
thereby  leaving  the  children  of  Israel  in  the  land  of  the 
Pharaohs,  their  exit  to  be  explained  in  other  ways. 

Manetho  here  comes  to  the  rescue,  with  the  only  rea- 
sonable and  plausible  version  of  the  problem,  in  which  he- 
is  supported  in  both  a  negative  and  positive  manner  by 
the  records  of  the  country.  It  will  be  remembered  that, 
as  a  historian  of  the  third  century  B.  C,  he  had  access  to 
all  the  records  of  Egypt. 

Before  giving  the  statements  of  Manetho,  it  will  be 
first  in  order  of  time  to  briefly  sketch  the  opinions  of  a 
few  of  the  numerous  writers  who  have  so  laboriously 
delved  into  the  question,  to  learn  how  wide  and  diverse 
their  opinions  are  on  the  same  subject-matter.  If  it  were 
true,  it  would  seem  that  there  should  be  no  difference  of 
opinion.  If  the  exodus,  as  described  in  that  book,  be 
true,  why  there  should  be  such  a  diversity  of  opinion  as 
to  the  time  of  the  occurrence  of  so  important  an  event  is  a 
question  that  will  be  asked  by  all  inquiring  minds,  to 
which  there  can  be  no  ready  answer.  Following  are  the 
opinions  of  some  of  the  numerous  authors: 

Usher  says,  "The  exodus  took  place  1491  B.  C. ;"  Hale 
says,  1648;  Wilkinson  fixes  1495  in  the  reign  of 
Thothmes  III;  Bunsen  says  1320  to  1314,  in  the  reign  of 
Menephtah;  Prof.  Lepsius  gives  the  latter  part  of  the 
19th  dynasty;  others  run  the  dates  from  2019  to  1300  B. 
C,  and  assert  that  the  number  of  Hebrews  that  went  out 
was  about  3,250,000. 

Brugsch,  in  his  "Egypt  Under  the  Pharaohs,"  agrees 
with  Bunsen  that  Menephtah  was  the  Pharaoh  of  the 
exodus,  succeeded  by  Seti  II,  who  was  followed  by 
Menephtah  III. 


And  Christian  Mythology.  11 

Maspero,  a  French  author,  places  the  exodus  under 
Seti  II.,  and  says  that  during  the  i8th  and  19th  dynasties, 
monumental  and  papyrus-roll  history  was  kept  all  over 
Egypt. 

Under  Seti  I  and  Rameses  II.  it  is  claimed  that  the 
Hebrews  were  oppressed. 

Josephus  says  the  Hebrews  went  out  of  Egypt  under 
the  reign  of  Tethmosis,  rendered  by  some  Tethmus,  by 
others,  Ahmos  or  Amos,  thus  agreeing  with  Africanus, 
who  says  they  went  out  under  the  reign  of  Amos. 

Some  other  writers  do  not  agree  with  this,  but  assert 
that  it  was  during  the  reign  of  Amos  that  the  Ilyksos 
went  out.  This  cannot  be  correct,  unless  we  admit  that 
Amos  was  a  monarch  of  the  17th  dynasty,  which  has  no 
evidence  in  its  support,  but  on  the  contrary  it  appears 
that  Amos  belonged  to  the  latter  part  of  the  18th  or  the 
early  part  of  the  19th  dynasty. 

It  mav  be  said  with  propriety  that  much  of  the  confu- 
sion here  arises  out  of  imperfect  knowledge  of  rendering 
names,  and  the  fact  that  dates  under  the  chronological 
■pt  commence  de  novo  with  each  Pharaoh. 
F(  r  instance,  Thutmus  is  by  Josephus  rendered  Teth- 
mosis; by  Africanus,  it  is  Amos,  and  by  Eusebius,  it  is 
Amo 

Mel  >onald,  in  his  chronology,  mal    -  Thutmus  I  n 
6;   Thutmus    III    1341  ;    Ahmo  Amenhi 

[371 ;  at  '  ■  $33  B.  ( '.    'I  he  e  dates  fall  within 

'1  dynastii 

Menephtah  was  on  the  throne  aboul  [315  B.C.     Dur- 
his  reign  tl  ith  by 

ans,  and  at  tl  by  an  African  prince 

named  Marmaiu,  witl 
from  five  nations;  joined  to thi  forcecameafleetol  1 


42  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

mariners  from  Greece,  Italy,  and  Asia  Minor.  After  a 
desperate  struggle  the  invaders  were  driven  out  of  the 
country.  This,  says  an  historian,  is  the  first  marine  war 
recorded  in  history.  Full  and  complete  accounts  of  it 
have  been  found  on  Egyptian  monuments.  It  is  claimed 
by  several  writers  that  the  exodus  took  place  almost  im- 
mediately after  this  war.  If,  as  stated  in  the  Hebrew 
records,  the  Egyptian  army  was,  in  following  the  Jews, 
swallowed  up  in  the  Red  Sea,  it  was  a  matter  of  too  much 
importance  to  have  escaped  the  chroniclers  of  that  time, 
hence  should  have  a  place  on  the  monuments. 

The  exit  of  the  Hebrews,  according  to  the  foregoing 
authorities,  took  place  during  the  18th  or  19th  dynasty, 
and  probably  not  far  from  1320  B.  C.  As  to  the  evidence 
on  this  point,  we  have  the  statements  as  to  the  time  of  the 
exit,  by  the  above  authors,  founded  on  the  assumption 
that  the  event,  as  described  by  the  author  of  the  book  of 
Exodus,  was  an  established  fact,  leaving  the  question  as 
to  the  truth  of  that  statement  untouched.  It  is  the  truth 
or  falsity  of  that  statement  that  is  now  at  issue.  On  the 
one  side  we  have  the  naked,  unsupported  statement  or 
assertion  of  the  author  of  the  Hebrew  Torah,  the  Greek 
Pentateuch,  who  is  undoubtedly  Ezra  and  his  assistants, 
and  his  story  founded  on  a  miracle,  handed  down  by  tra- 
dition for  nearly  ten  centuries  before  being  reduced  to 
writing.  On  the  other  side  we  have  the  negative  and 
positive  records  of  Egypt,  and  the  history  of  Manetho, 
founded  on  a  natural  state  of  things.  Ezra  wrote  his  ver- 
sion, as  we  shall  show  further  on,  nearly  a  thousand  years 
after  the  alleged  event,  and  by  his  own  statement  it  was 
written  from  memory;  while  Manetho  had  the  records  of 
Egypt  from  which  to  write. 

It  may  be  safely  said  that  the  18th  and  19th  dynasties 


And  Christian  Mythology.  43 

cover  the  most  brilliant  and  prosperous  period  in  Egyp- 
tian history.  In  point  of  learning  the  Egyptians  were  in 
advance  of  any  former  or  subsequent  age  in  their  his- 
tory. 

Ferguson,  the  Egyptologist  and  historian,  says  the 
18th,  19th,  and  20th  dynasties  cover  the  most  brilliant 
period  in  Egyptian  annals,  i.  e.,  that  at  no  other  time  did 
the  Egyptian  chroniclers  furnish  so  full  and  complete 
narratives  of  every  event  happening  in  their  country. 
This  author  further  says:  "In  refinement,  learning, 
architecture,  and  luxuries,  she  had  reached  the  pinnacle 
of  fame;  the  writings  included  history,  divinity,  philoso- 
phy, correspondence,  travels,  novels,  and  legends." 

We  might  quote  to  the  same  purport  from  other  au- 
thors, but  as  this  is  undisputed,  further  evidence  is  un- 
called for.  In  point  of  architecture,  Rawlinson,  the  great 
historian,  says:  "The  hall  of  Seti  at  Karnak  is  the  great- 
est of  man's  architectural  works,  and  the  building  to 
which  it  belongs  is  the  noblest  ever  produced  by  the  hand 
of  man."  Another  writer  says:  "The  architectures  of 
ce  and  Rome  sink  into  insignificance  as  compared 
with  that  of  Egypt." 

The  monumental  inscriptions  and  papym  om 

prising  the  records  <>f  that  wonderful  people,  have  sur- 
vived the  elements  of  centuries,  come  down  t<>  <>ur  tunc. 
and  been  recently  unearthed  and  deciphered. 

If  the  exodus,  as  described  in  the  Pentateuch,  had 
taken  place  as  therein  stated,  and  the  an-  gypt, 

while  pursuit  raelites,  had  been  swallowed  up  in 

the  wntrrs  of  1  -  thai  the  records 

would  have  been  silent  on     .  di  i   trou    a  matter? 
event  would  I  •!  of  too  much  importance  to  have 

been  overlooked,  especially  when  the  laws  «.f  nature  had 


44  Coin  mi  nl<  tries  on  Hebrew 

to  be  suspended  in  order  to  accomplish  the  salvation  of 
the  Israelites.  It  would  seem  that  there  can  be  but  one 
answer  to  that  question.  Sir  William  Osburn,  a 
thorough  Egyptologist  and  hieroglyphist,  after  spending 
thirty  years  among  the  tombs,  monuments,  and  ruins  of 
Egypt,  and  having  specially  searched  to  find  recorded  evi- 
dence of  the  Hebrews,  says,  in  his  "Monumental  History 
of  Egypt,"  that  he  has  failed  to  find  any  mention,  or  trace 
of  any  kind,  bearing  on  or  tending  to  sustain  the  biblical 
account  of  the  exodus.  We  can  hardly  forbear  quoting 
from  Chevalier  Bunsen,  one  of  the  ablest  Egyptologists, 
who,  in  speaking  of  the  biblical  story  of  the  exodus,  says: 
"The  barriers  which  Jewish  superstition  and  Christian 
sloth  have  erected  in  the  field  of  history,  are  forever 
broken  down.  Historical  records  and  truth  cannot  be 
destroyed  by  the  preposterous  claims  advanced  by  the 
clergy  to  fabricate  history  in  order  to  bring  us  back  to  the 
dark  ages." 

While  it  cannot  in  justice  be  claimed  that  the  silence 
of  the  Egyptian  records  is  conclusive  proof  against  the 
Hebrew  story  of  the  exodus,  we  think  it  must  in  all 
fairness  be  admitted  that  it  throws  a  cloud  over  that 
story. 

If  the  matter  rested  here,  the  story  of  the  exodus  as  told 
by  Ezra  would  remain  an  unsolved  problem.  But  truth 
here  comes  to  the  rescue,  with  a  smile  on  its  face,  and 
introduces  the  reader  to  the  great  Egyptian  historian, 
Manetho,  and  asks  him,  in  his  "History  of  Egypt,"  to  tell 
us  how  Moses  and  the  children  of  Israel  got  out  of  the 
land  of  the  Pharaohs.  Hear  what  he  has  to  say.  Mane- 
tho says:  "Amenophis  (who  was  then  on  the  throne) 
consulted  the  Gods  as  to  how  to  get  rid  of  the  Hebrews. 
The  advice  was  to  drive  them  out  of  Egypt.    The  He- 


And  Christian  Mythology.  45 

brews  asked  the  king  that  they  be  allowed  to  depart;  the 
king  refused  to  grant  their  request,  but  sent  them  into  the 
stone  quarries;  afterward,  at  their  request,  he  allowed 
them  to  occupy  Avaris,  which  had  been  desolate  since 
the  departure  of  the  shepherds;  among  them  there  were 
several  learned  priests  afflicted  with  leprosy;  one  of  them, 
named  Osarsiph,  a  priest  of  Heliopolis,  they  made  their 
ruler;  having  fortified  the  city,  Osarsiph  incited  an  insur- 
rection against  Amenophis,  and  sent  to  Jerusalem,  to  the 
formerly  expelled  shepherds,  for  aid;  they  responded 
with  alacrity,  and  came  to  the  assistance  of  Osarsiph, 
whose  name  was  afterward  changed  to  Moses." 

So  far  the  statements  of  Manetho  substantially  agree 
with  the  Hebrew  account.  Manetho  further  says: 
"Amenophis,  with  his  army,  was  compelled  to  flee  into 
Ethiopia."  This  point  is  in  substance  supported  by  Jo- 
sephus.  Manetho  then  proceeds  to  say:  "The  Egyp- 
tians remained  in  Ethiopia  for  thirteen  years;  during  this 
time  Osarsiph  burned  the  towns  and  destroyed  the  im- 
ages of  the  Gods;  after  the  thirteen  years  Amenophis  re- 
turned to  Egypt  with  a  great  army  and  drove  these  lep- 
rous and  unclean  people  and  their  allies  out  of  Egypt,  to 
the  1  Syria." 

Leaving  out  the  Red  Sea  miracle  and  some  minor  de- 
tails, the  two  accounts   arc    not  in  substantial    conflict. 

.  finding 
of  Syria,  had  to  do  one   of  tv.  way 

through  the  nation  of  Philistines,  or  turn  '  to  the 
southeast  of  Mount  Sinai.      Josephus  com.  ■•-  aid 

here,  and  rews  did  attempt  to  pass  thr< 

the  Phil 

Here  ."  ithor  of  1 

who  finds  them  nt  the  ha  e  of  Mount  Sinai,  and  the  whole 


46  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

story  of  the  exit  is  told  without  the  intervention  of  a  mir- 
acle, which  was  undoubtedly  added  by  Ezra  to  embellish 
and  round  off  the  tale  for  the  edification  of  the  children  of 
Israel,  and  make  them  believe  that  Jehovah  was  their 
protector.  It  may  here  be  said  that  the  monumental  in- 
scriptions recently  brought  to  light  in  Egypt  fully  sus- 
tain the  historical  accounts  given  by  Manetho. 

The  Hebrews  at  Mount  Sinai  were  among  their  friends 
and  in  a  country  where  they  could  procure  food  and 
water  for  themselves  until  such  time  as  they  could  get 
ready  to  pass  around  that  mount  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan 
and  so  enter  the  land  of  Canaan.  The  length  of  time 
which  the  Hebrews  remained  at  Mount  Sinai  and  on  the 
desert  of  Paran  must  ever  remain  in  doubt,  for  notwith- 
standing the  Hebrew  statement  of  forty  years,  no  record 
of  them  is  given  beyond  the  f.rst  two  years,  during  which, 
it  is  said,  full  details  of  their  doings  have  been  supplied. 
Goethe  says  that  the  period  of  forty  years  was  but  a 
mythical  round  number;  that  the  real  time  was  two 
years.  Three,  seven,  twelve,  and  forty  were  favorite 
numbers  among  all  the  pagan  nations,  from  whom  they 
were  undoubtedly  borrowed  by  the  Hebrews,  and  later 
by  the  Christians.  The  forty  days  of  the  flood,  forty 
years  in  the  wilderness,  forty  days  on  Mount  Sinai,  and 
the  forty  days  of  fasting  are  but  borrowed  myths. 

Renan  says  that  the  number  of  Hebrews  who  left 
Egypt  must  have  been  very  small,  as  the  desert  country 
around  Sinai  is  such  that  but  a  few  people  could  have 
found  support  there;  that  at  the  present  time  the  country 
is  peopled  with  a  few  hundred  half-starved  Bedouins. 

Before  proceeding  to  consider  the  exploits  of  Moses 
at  Mount  Sinai,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  Hebrew 
populace  had,  in  spite  of  their  priests,  during  their  long 


And  Christian  Mythology.  47 

stay  in  Egypt,  accepted  the  religion  of  that  country,  to 
w  hich  they  adhered  up  to  the  time  of  their  release  from 
Babylonian  captivity,  worshiping  Horus,  Ra,  Turn,  Aten, 
Apis,  and  other  Egyptian  divinities,  in  common  with  the 
principal  divinities  of  Canaan. 

Moses  and  some  of  the  other  learned  priests,  while  in 
Egypt,  cast  off  Elohim,  the  plural  of  Anu,  El,  and  Hea, 
and  in  its  place  substituted  the  name  Iahveh,  afterward 
written  Jahveh,  or  Jehovah;  that  is,  they  exchanged  the 
pagan  divinity  of  the  Chaldeans  for  the  pagan  divinity  of 
the  Egyptians.  In  proof  of  this  we  cite  Williamson,  who, 
in  his  "'History  of  Israel,"  says:  "That  Elohim  was  the 
divine  name  used  by  the  Hebrews  up  to  the  time  of 
Moses;  that  Iahveh,  or  Jehovah,  was  the  sacred  name 
used  by  the  Egyptian  priests,  has  been  proven  from  mon- 
umental inscriptions,  and  by  Spencer,  Marsham,  Jabon- 
ski,  Skinner,  and  other  Egyptologists." 

Jehovah  and  the  Hebrew  Ritual  Borrowed  from  Egypt. 

As  a  foundation  or  preliminary  to  this  branch  of  the 
discussion,  we  quote  from  Rawlinson,  who  says  that 
Amenhotep  [V  attempted  to  restore,  in  a  modified  form, 

the  religion  which  Apepi  had  endeavored  to  institute,  the 

worship  of  Aten,  the  sun  God.  Apepi  attempted  to  turn 
the  people  from  the  worship  of  all  the  cept  Set; 

that  name  being  familiar  to  the  people,  he  preferred  it  to 
Iahveh,  or  Jehovah,  which  had  been  used  by  the  priests 
from  carl}'  times.  Tin-  followers  of  Amenhotep  were 
called  di  '  ipcrs.     This   author   further  says    that 

the  forms  of  worship  set  up  by  the  '  in  the  desert 

were  the  same  as  those  of  the  disk  worshipers,  and  thai 
!  furnitui  I  described  in  Exodus 

are  the  same  as  used  in  th  ip  of  Aten.    The  God 


4S  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

Aten  being  looked  upon  by  the  Egyptian  populace  as 
the  physical  sun,  as  such  they  worshiped  that  orb. 

The  Egyptians,  like  most  other  pagan  nations,  had 
their  trinities;  the  sun,  being  one  of  them,  rose  as  Horus, 
shone  in  mid-heavens  as  Ra,  and  set  as  Turn.  These 
divinities  were  recognized  as  the  three  vital  qualities  and 
attributes  centering  in  one  supreme  head,  called  by  the 
priests  Jehovah,  the  personification  of  the  great  solar  orb. 
The  Jehovah,  sometimes  represented  as  "I  am,"  in  Exo- 
dus, is  the  same  as  "I  am  all  that  is,"  which  has  been 
found  on  the  Egyptian  monuments. 

From  what  has  been  here  shown,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
about  the  fact  that  Jehovah,  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  and 
Christians,  is  but  a  pagan  deity  borrowed  from  Egypt, 
w  hose  pedigree  runs  back  to  Chaldea,  to  Elam,  and  to  the 
city  of  Ur  (the  birthplace  of  the  mythical  Abraham), 
where  he  was  adored  as  the  great  solar  disk.  This  same 
divinity,  first  represented  by  the  sun,  has  occupied  one 
and  three  places,  as  one  and  three  beings,  all  along  the 
pagan  line  from  4000  years  B.  C.  to  the  present  time. 

In  Elam  and  Chaldea  he,  as  a  trinity,  was  Anu,  El,  and 
Hea,  united  in  Elohim;  in  India  he  is  Brahma,  Vishnu, 
and  Siva,  united  in  Trimurti;in  Persia  he  is  Ahura,  Gema, 
and  Sosiosh,  united  in  Ahura-Mazda ;  in  Egypt  he  is  Ho- 
rus, Ra,  and  Turn,  united  in  Jehovah;  in  Greece  he  is 
Osiris,  Isis,  and  Orus,  united  in  Zeus;  in  Scandinavia  he 
is  Odin,  Vila,  and  Ye,  united  in  Hel;  with  the  Christians 
he  is  Father,  Son,  and  Ghost,  united  in  Jehovah. 

Moses  at  Mount  Sinai, 

The  next  that  is  heard  of  Moses  and  his  people,  ac- 
cording to  biblical  records,  is  at  Mount  Sinai.  On  the  acts 
and  doings  at  this  place  and  epoch  rest  Hebrew  and 
Christian  mythology. 


And  Christian  Mythology.  49 

Mount  Sinai,  nearly  9,000  feet  high,  is  the  loftiest,  most 
forbidding,  and  most  desolate  mountain  in  southwestern 
Asia.  From  base  to  summit  it  is  destitute  of  vegetation; 
its  formation  is  principally  dark  granite;  its  summit  is 
often  covered  with  glistening  ice  and  snow;  terrible 
storms  gather  around  it;  the  thunder  echoes  at  its  base, 
while  the  lightning  exposes  to  view  its  solitude.  When  all 
is  quiet,  the  awful  silence  of  its  desolation  is  appalling; 
the  traveler,  Josephus  informs  us,  was  afraid  to  stop  there 
to  feed  his  stock ;  he  shuddered  at  the  very  sound  of  his 
own  footsteps.  The  Babylonians  looked  upon  this 
mountain  as  the  home  of  Anu,  El,  and  Hea;  and  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  as  the  home  of  Elohim  and  Jehovah. 

The  biblical  writings  represent  the  God  of  Israel  on  this 
mountain,  surrounded  by  angels,  riding  on  the  wings  of 
the  wind  and  flames  of  fire,  speaking  in  tones  of  thunder, 
and  rending  the  cloudy  veil  to  show  himself  in  the  light- 
ning. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Moses,  in  his  flight  from  Egypt, 
selected  this  mountain  as  the  place  to  talk  with  and  pro- 
cure from  Jehovah  a  code-  of  laws  for  the  government  of 
the  people  of  Israel.  Here  Moses  met  Jehovah  in  his 
own  home,  while  the  credulous,  simple  Hebrews  consent- 
ed to  wait  at  the  fool  of  the  mountain  until  their  hero 
went  up  for  the  laws  and  commandments;  for  they  were 

afraid   of   this   desolate   mountain    and    the    wrath   of    its 
monarch. 

Moses  and  his  Laws. 

Now  let  us  proceed  to  the  dii  1  u  sion  of  the  chara<  tei 
of  Moses  and  the  sacred  la^  and  commandments  eon 
tained  in  the  five  b<  '"1     ascribed  to  him. 

I  >n  these  writings,  and  th<  ir  suppo  ed  divine  author 


50  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

ship,  hang  the  Hebrew  and  Christian  religions.  The  He- 
brews and  Christians  have  been  taught  to  believe,  and 
they  have  believed  as  they  were  taught  by  their  priests, 
that  Moses  wrote  these  laws  at  the  command  of  Jehovah, 
or  that  Jehovah  wrote  them  at  the  command  of  Moses, 
and  that  Moses  b  rough  i  these  writings  down  out  of 
Mount  Sinai,  put  them  in  an  ark  where  they  were  safely 
kept,  and  that  they  have  been  correctly  translated  into 
the  various  languages  of  Christendom. 

Xow,  if  this  be  true,  then  these  laws  ought  to  be,  not 
only  good  authority,  but  binding  and  conclusive  on  all 
of  the  world.  On  the  other  hand,  if  Moses  did  not  get 
them  in  this  way,  or  get  them  at  all,  but  they  were  the 
writings  of  man,  or  men,  as  mere  ordinary  mortals,  and 
were  written  long  after  the  death  of  Moses,  then  they 
have,  and  of  right  should  have,  no  force  or  effect  what- 
ever. Now,  these  are  the  questions  which  we  propose  to 
discuss. 

So  far  as  the  writings  go,  on  their  face,  they,  we  be- 
lieve, purport  to  come  through  Moses.  The  writings  re- 
cite, or  inform  us,  that  while  in  the  wilderness  the  follow- 
ers of  Moses  became  disheartened,  and  insisted  on  re- 
turning to  Egypt;  that  they  had  become  so  clamorous 
that  Moses,  to  appease  them,  promised  that,  if  they  would 
wait  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  he  would  have  a  confer- 
ence with  Jehovah,  and  he  assured  his  people  that  Jehovah 
had  often  promised  to  conduct  them  safely  out  of  the 
desert  and  into  the  land  of  Canaan.  But  they  had  become 
weary  and  disheartened,  and  refused  to  believe  Moses,  or 
to  believe  that  his  God  was  in  the  mountain  at  all.  Moses 
finally  persuaded  them  to  wait  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tain, when,  according  to  the  Bible,  he  took  with  him 
Aaron,  Nadab,  and  Abihu,  and  seventy  elders,  making 


And  Christian  Mythology.  51 

seventy-four  in  all,  seventy-three  exclusive  of  himself. 
When  part  the  way  up  the  mountain  Jehovah  appeared 
before  them  standing  on  a  sapphire  stone,  and  all  the  sev- 
enty-four saw  him.  After  this  Moses  proceeded  alone  up 
into  the  mountain,  waited  six  days,  got  the  laws  from 
Jehovah,  stayed  forty  days  longer,  and  then  returned 
with  the  laws  written  or  engraved  on  tablets  of  stone. 

Now,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  this  is  a  remarkable  story, 
apparently  contrary  to  natural  laws,  and  contrary  to  all 
our  experience,  and  it  rests  on  the  statement  of  Moses, 
unsupported  by  a  single  witness;  for  not  one  of  the  seven- 
ty-three others  has  been  produced  or  has  offered  to  come 
forward  to  say  one  word  in  corroboration  of  the  state- 
ment of  Moses.  The  statement  of  Moses  that  the  other 
seventy-three  persons  saw  Jehovah,  is  not  their  state- 
ment, but  his  alone.  Moses  must  have  known  that  this 
statement  was  an  unnatural  one,  and  that  his  people 
would  require  all  the  evidence  possible  in  its  support, 
then  why  did  he  not  call  some  one  or  all  of  the  seventy- 
three  persons  to  vouch  in  some  way  or  manner  for  his 
?  The  fact  that  he  did  not  do  so,  or  attempl  to  '1" 
i  >uld  be,  in  this  age  of  the  world,  conclusive  evidence 
of  the  untruthfulness  of  the  statement,  even  if  made  by  a 
man  of  the  highest  character  \< >r  truth  and  integrity.  In 
this  case  Moses  has  not  even  this  to  back  him,  for  accord 
ing  to  thi  uthority,  he  was  guilty  <>f  willful  murder 

in  Egypt,  and  also  of  entering  into  a  conspiracy  to  cheat 
and  defraud  the  Egyptian  women  of  their  jewelry. 

F.ven  the  followers  of  Moses  did  nol  believe  his  Mounl 
Sinai  story,  for  Aaron,  while  his  brotl  Up  in  the 

mountain,  set  -Men  calf,  the  \pis  bull  of  Egypt; 

and  while  in  the  desert  the  Hebrews  continued  the  wor- 


52  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

ship  of  the  Egyptian  divinities,  notwithstanding  the  ex- 
ertions of  the  priests  to  turn  them  over  to  Jehovah. 

This  continuous  religious  warfare  between  the  priests 
and  the  populace  did  not  cease  on  their  return  to  Canaan ; 
they  had  lost  the  numerous  Egyptian  deities,  and  re- 
fused to  accept  Jehovah  or  the  teachings  of  Moses  and 
the  other  priests;  nor  was  it  until  the  close  of  the  Baby- 
lonian captivity  that  the  priests,  under  the  leadership  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  were  able,  in  that  land  of  captivity, 
to  bring  the  Hebrews  back  to  a  quasi  recognition  of  the 
power  of  Jehovah,  as  manifested  through  the  priests  of 
his  chosen  people. 

Contrary  to  the  general  belief  of  seventy  years  of  cap- 
tivity, the  records  show  but  fifty,  and  this  is  the  time  now 
agreed  on  by  numerous  writers.  It  is  conceded  that  Jeru- 
salem was  destroyed  and  that  the  people  were  carried  off 
by  Nebuchadnezzar  in  the  year  586  B.  C.  Cyrus,  the 
Persian  monarch,  overthrew  Babylon  in  the  year  536  B. 
C,  and  no  later  than  the  following  year  the  Jews  were  re- 
leased, when,  it  is  said,  some  40,000  of  them,  with  some 
Levite  priests,  returned  to  Jerusalem. 

This  argument  is  based  on  the  theory  that  these  sacred 
laws  and  commandments  were  of  Mosaic  origin.  We  do 
not  propose  to  stop  here,  but  to  proceed  and  prove  that 
neither  of  these  five  books,  nor  any  part  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment writings,  came  from  Moses  or  from  Jehovah,  and 
that  neither  Moses  nor  Jehovah  ever  saw  or  heard  of 
these  writings;  in  short,  that  Moses  left  no  writings  what- 
ever at  the  time  of  his  death,  but  that  the  five  books  com- 
prising the  Hebrew  Thora,  or  Creek  Pentateuch,  gener- 
ally ascribed  to  Moses,  were  written  nearly  a  thousand 
years  after  his  death. 

It  is  said  that  Moses  brought  from  Mount  Sinai  an 


And  Christian  Mythology.  53 

ark,  meaning  a  box,  containing  at  least  the  ten  command- 
ments engraved  on  tablets.  Biblical  records  assert  that  he 
carried  this  ark  around  in  his  nomadic  wanderings  and  in 
his  marauding  expeditions;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that 
anyone  ever  saw  the  inside  of  that  box,  or  ever  heard 
what  became  of  its  contents.  An  able  Egyptologist  says 
that  the  Hebrews  had  no  alphabet  up  to  the  time  of  their 
return  to  Canaan;  that  Moses  could  not  have  written  the 
Pentateuch  in  Egyptian  characters,  they  being  too  un- 
wieldy fur  so  extensive  a  work,  hence  he  could  not  have 
been  the  author  of  those  books.  As  to  the  laws  of  Moses, 
Brugsch,  in  his  "History  of  Egypt,"  says  that  the  author 
of  the  Pentateuch,  in  compiling  his  code  of  laws,  did  but 
translate  into  Hebrew  the  religious  precepts  that  he 
found  in  Egypt. 

Origin  of  the  Books  of  Moses  and  Other  Sacred  Writ- 
ings of  the  Hebrews. 

We  have  now  reached  the  point  as  to  the  origin  of  the 
five  books  generally  ascribed  to  Moses. 

This  subject  has  been  ably  and  thoroughly  examined 
and  discussed  by  numerous  scholars  and  historians  of 
every  shade  of  opinion,  from  the  radical  Christian  to  the 
mosl  ultra  skeptic.  In  some  of  the  minor  details  there  is 
quite  a  diversity  of  opinion,  some  maintaining  that  the 
five  be  re  v.  ritten  in  whole  and  taken  fr<  im  tradition 

at  the  Babylonian  captivity;  while  others  as  erl  that 
Moses  and  the  early  Hebrews  left  the  substance  of  these 

i    in    different    manuscripts;   and    still    Others   assert 

that  they  were  made  up  parti;,  from  fragmentary  writings 
and  traditions.  But  all  of  these  authors  agree  that  at  least 
the  first  four  books  of  the  Pentateuch,  and  probably  the 
fifth,  in  their  present  form,  were  firs!  made  known  and 


54  Commentaries  on  HeUn  w 

published  in  the  world  by  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  about  445 
B.  C,  nearly  1,000  years  after  Moses. 

The  Rev.  McClintock,  the  writer  in  "Cyclopedia  of  B. 
&  E.  L.,"  says  that  the  authenticity  of  the  Pentateuch  was 
first  called  in  question  earl  in  the  second  century  by  the 
author  of  the  "Clementine  Homilies,"  who  claimed  that 
the  law  was  given  early  to  Moses,  and  reduced  to  writing 
after  his  death.  Jerome  denied  it  to  be  the  work  of 
Aloses.  Aben  Ezra,  of  the  Royal  College  of  Paris,  ex- 
pressed a  similar  opinion.  Astruc,  a  professor  in  that 
school,  was  the  first  who  discovered  in  the  Pentateuch 
two  distinct  documents,  the  Elohist  and  the  Jehovist. 
Spinoza  disputed  its  generally  accepted  authorship,  and 
attributed  it  in  its  present  form  to  Ezra.  A.  T.  Hart- 
mann,  in  his  criticisms,  maintains  that  the  Pentateuch 
was  made  up  of  numerous  fragments  thrown  loosely  to- 
gether. A  majority  of  the  critics  agree  that  it  was  com- 
posed of  traditions  and  of  numerous  writings  originating 
between  the  time  of  David  or  Josiah  and  the  Babylonian 
captivity. 

Well  might  the  Rev.  McClintock  exclaim:  "The  lan- 
guage of  Christ  and  his  apostles  is  such  that  the  hypothe- 
sis of  the  Pentateuch  not  being  the  work  of  Moses  must 
create  a  very  painful  feeling  in  the  mind  of  every  true  and 
simple-hearted  follower  of  Christ."  In  this  opinion  we 
most  heartily  concur,  for,  according  to  the  four  gospels, 
Christ  and  his  apostles  numerous  times  were  made  to  as- 
sert, directly  and  by  way  of  assumption,  that  Moses  was 
the  author  of  the  Pentateuch.  But  this  is  not  all,  for  all  of 
the  Hebrew  and  Christian  writers  and  teachers  have  pro- 
claimed the  same  thing  until  quite  recently,  when  criticism 
commenced  its  work  of  dissecting  the  authorship.  What 
position  does  this  place  Christ  and  his  disciples  in  ?    Cer- 


And  Christian  Mythology.  55 

tainly  in  no  other  than  their  ignorance  of  a  state  of  facts 
discovered  by  other  men  on  examination  of  the  books 
themselves;  not  very  complimentary  on  the  intelligence 
of  a  God  and  his  inspired  apostles.  Dr.  Davidson,  in  his 
"Introduction  to  the  Old  Testament,"  in  speaking  of  the 
five  books  ascribed  to  Moses,  says:  "There  is  little  ex- 
ternal evidence  for  the  Mosaic  authorship,  and  what  little 
there  is  does  not  stand  the  test  of  criticism."  He  further 
savs:  "The  succeeding  writers  of  the  Old  Testament  do 
not  confirm  it ;  the  objections  derived  from  internal  struct- 
ure are  conclusive  against  the  Mosaic  authorship;  va- 
rious contradictions  are  irreconcilable;  the  traces  of  a 
later  date  are  convincing."  He  further  says:  "The  nar- 
ratives of  the  Pentateuch  are  partly  mythical  and  legend- 
ary. The  miracles  recorded  are  the  exaggerations  of  a 
later  age.  Moses  was  not  the  first  writer  who  penned 
parts  of  the  national  legends  and  history." 

(  !hambers  says:  "The  early  claims  of  Mosaic  author- 
ship of  tin-  Pentateuch  have  been  generally  abandoned." 
In  this  the  latest  authors  concur. 

After  Babylon  had  been  captured  by  Cyrus,  the  Per- 
sian king,  one  <>f  the  first  acts  of  this  monarch  was  to 
•  releasing  the  Jews  From  captivity,  and  per- 
mitting such  of  them  ired,  to  return  to  Jerusa- 
lem. It  is  claimed  that  aboul  40,000  of  them  at  once 
availed  them  this  privilege ;  bul  where  did  these 
40,000  come  from?    The  Hebrews  had  been  in  captivity 

but   fifty  years,  and  the  total   number  Of  captives  taken 

from  Jerusalem  at  the  two  sieges  did  not  exceed  3,000. 
thereafter,  Ezra     and   Nehemiah,  accom 
panied  by  several  d  to  Jerusalem,  1  a 

ing  with  them  the  entire  writings  comprising  the  Penta 
teuch  and  otl  ed  writings,  and  called  together  all 


50  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

the  Israelites,  when  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  occupied  several 
days  in  reading  these  so-called  Alosaic  laws  and  com- 
mandments, including  the  account  of  the  creation  of  the 
world,  the  fall  of  Adam,  the  flood,  etc.  After  this  read- 
ing, all  the  Hebrews  took  an  oath  to  believe  and  obey 
these  books  as  the  works  of  Moses. 

Ezra  ought  to  be  good  authority  on  this  subject.  He 
says,  or  is  made  to  say,  that  he  and  others  wrote  these 
books  during  the  Babylonian  captivity.  He  further  says, 
that  all  of  the  sacred  writings  of  the  Jews  had  been 
burned,  and  that  he  had  undertaken  to  write  all  that  had 
been  done  in  the  world  from  the  beginning,  and  that  he 
wrote  from  memory. 

Renan,  in  his  third  volume  of  "Israel,"  insists,  with 
much  force  of  argument  and  some  evidence,  that  the  gen- 
erally accepted  opinion  derived  from  three  of  the  early 
fathers  of  the  church,  that  Ezra  wrote  the  whole  of  the 
Thora  at  Babylon  from  memory,  cannot  be  maintained; 
he  asserts  that  at  the  time  of  the  destruction  of  the  temple 
at  the  second  siege  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  the 
Hebrews  carried  with  them  into  captivity  fragments  of 
the  sacred  writings,  including  the  Thora,  in  an  unfinished 
condition,  and  that  from  these  fragments,  and  from  mem- 
ory, the  Thora  and  other  scriptures  were  made. 

Whatever  sacred  writings  the  Hebrews  then  possessed 
were  undoubtedly  in  the  temple.  There  were  no  copies, 
for  copying  at  that  time  among  that  people  was  not  in 
vogue;  nor  did  the  common  people,  who  could  not  read, 
know  anything  about  these  writings  except  through  the 
teachings  of  the  priests ;  and  they  cared  less,  for  they  wor- 
shiped the  pagan  divinities  around  them,  recognizing 
Iahveh  only  when  forced  to  do  so  by  the  priests. 

History  informs  us  that,  at  the  first  siege,  all  of  the 


And  Christian  Mythology.  57 

priests  and  other  leading  men  were  carried  oft',  and  that, 
at  the  second  siege,  when  the  temple  was  destroyed,  there 
were  none  but  the  common  people  to  carry  into  Baby- 
lon, who  took  no  stock  in  these  writings.  Which  ever 
version  be  true,  the  main  fact  that  Moses  did  not  write 
any  of  these  books,  and  that  even  the  fragments  from 
which  they  were  compiled  or  written  had  no  existence 
for  more  than  500  years  after  Moses'  death,  stands  out  as 
conclusive  against  the  alleged  authorship  by  Moses. 

When  a  people  migrate  from  one  country  to  another, 
they  carry  with  them  the  things  which  to  them  are  the 
most  valuable  and  sacred. 

To  these  people  their  most  valuable  and  sacred  things 
were  their  Gods,  their  religion,  and  their  household  uten- 
sils. The  traditions  of  the  Chaldeans  concerning  the  cre- 
ation and  the  flood  were  household  words  with  the  priest- 
hood of  Israel  during  all  of  the  long  period  from  their  exit 
from  Ut  until  the  reign  of  David,  when  these  writings 
were  commenced;  and,  at  least  so  far  as  the  Pentateuch, 
the  history  of  Moses,  and  some  other  writings  are  con- 
cerned, tin",  were  reduced  to  their  present  form  during 
the  Babylonian  captivity,  by  Ezra  el  al. 

At  the  time  1  >f  Ezra's  v\  riting  these  legends  of  creati<  >n, 
of  Adam  and  Eve,  of  the  garden  and  of  the  flood,  they 
in  second  copy  in  the  archives  of  Babylon, 
where  Ezra  undoubtedly  had  to  them  to  aid  him 

in  making  up  the  books  he  carried  back  to  Jerusalem.  If 
Ezra  palmed  off  on  his  less  intelligent  and  coni  ding  Eol- 
lowei    thi   1  mythi<  al  I  g<  1  ■  oming  from  Jehovah, 

or  from  Moses,  it  was  only  one  among  the  numerous  re- 
ligious frauds  of  his  time. 

We  will  now  offer  in  evidence  some  further  proof  of  the 
anthor.hip  of  these  books.     Renan  informs  us  thai  the 


58  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

Hebrews  possessed  no  writings  up  to  the  time  of  David; 
that  the  history  of  that  people  prior  to  that  time  rested 
on  tradition;  that  during  the  reign  of  David  and  Solomon 
(about  seventy  years)  some  scraps  of  sacred  history 
were  written.  Some  sketches  comprising  the  framework 
of  the  Pentateuch  were  made  up  from  old  Babylonian 
legends.  It  is  quite  apparent  that  at  least  a  part  of  the 
tenth  chapter  of  Genesis  dates  from  Solomon's  reign; 
that  among  the  writings  at  this  time  appeared  the  legends 
of  Chaldea  and  the  mythical  Abraham,  also  the  life  of 
Moses,  but  there  are  found  no  writings  relating  to  the  ex- 
ploits of  Moses  at  Sinai;  that  the  writings  comprised  in 
the  Pentateuch,  as  purporting  to  have  come  from  Jeho- 
vah on  Mount  Sinai,  are  of  much  later  origin.  The  author 
says:  "The  populace,  being  mere  children,  were  much 
edified  by  these  stories;  Christianity  having  restored  a 
second  childhood,  the  gospels  were  well  adapted  to  fill 
the  vacuum."  In  speaking  of  the  oracles,  the  same  author 
says:  ''Divine  manifestations  were  made  principally 
through  the  prophets,  this  device  having  supplanted  the 
old  enigmatical  machine,  which  replied  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim.  This  device,  or  machine,  worked  on  the  rule  of 
chance,  like  the  throwing  of  dice,  giving  the  answer  in 
the  affirmative  or  negative  as  the  manifestation  of  the  di- 
vine will."  This  author  further  says:  "It  was  believed 
that  Iahveh,  having  become  disgusted  with  the  machine 
plan,  thought  it  more  in  keeping  with  his  dignity  and 
with  the  progress  of  the  times  to  be  heard  through  a  class 
of  men  called  prophets." 

Sacred  history  teaches  us  that  all  Gods  are  progressive, 
and  inclined  to  keep  pace  with  civilization  when  not  held 
in  check  by  their  priests.  As  to  this  matter,  Renan  says: 
"Progress  in  religion  may  be  made  in  two  ways,  either  by 


And  Christian  Mythology.  59 

directly  attacking  a  bad  creed,  by  destroying  or  suppress- 
ing unworthy  Gods,  or  by  improving  the  special  God, 
without  changing  his  name,  by  gradually  raising  him  to 
the  type  of  an  universal  divinity."  In  this  way,  this  au- 
thor says,  "Jehovah  became  the  absolute  God,  and  the 
fatal  name  Iahveh  was  suppressed  by  declaring  it  unpro- 
nounceable; that  an  idol,  a  false  God,  if  there  ever  was 
one,  has  become  through  the  steady  action  of  an  in- 
tense volition  of  the  Hebrews,  the  only  true  God." 

In  further  speaking  of  the  Hebrew  writings,  Renan 
tells  us:  "The  life  of  Elijah,  like  the  life  of  Christ,  was 
particularly  prolific  in  legends;  Elijah  and  Isaac  furnished 
the  basis  of  Jewish,  Christian,  and  Mussulman  mytholo- 
gy ;  they  were  the  great  divine  agents  of  Messiahism,  the 
forerunner  of  celestial  apparitions;  and  Elijah,  like 
Christ,  spent  fort}'  days  in  reaching  Mount  Horeb,  where 
•  held  visions  resembling  those  of  Moses  at  Mount 
Sinai;  the  foundation  for  the  legends  attributed  to  Moses 
had  undoubtedly  been  reduced  to  writing  by  Elijah,  or  at 
leasl  in  his  time;  and  Elijah  and  Elisha  belong  entirely  to 
rids;  the  prophetism  of  the  north  nol  only  created 
Elijah,  it  also  created  Moses,  and  the  sacred  histor}  of 
Moses  and  the  Thora  were  the  starting-poinl  for  both 
Judaism  and  Christianity."  The  author  further  says: 
"The  substance  of  the  legends  concerning  the  creation,  of 
Adam  and  Eve,  and  of  Moses,  appear  in  the  patriarchal 
,K  ,-md  in  the  Book  of  the  Wars  of  [ahveh,  bul  as 
writing  was  at  that  date  little  in  use,  and  unknown  to  the 
populace,  they  remained  contenl  to  resl  on  tradition." 
The  discrepancies  and  contradictions  in  the  sacred  b 
are  the  resull  of  differenl  minds  reading  tradition  in  dif- 
ferenl  ways. 

to  the  Elohisl  and   fehovisl   versions,  this  author 


CO  Commentaries  on  HebretO 

says:  "It  is  evident  that  they  were  written  by  two  or  more 
persons,  the  former  at  the  north,  the  latter  at  Jerusalem; 
that  the  original  documents  did  not  bear  the  signatures 
of  their  authors ;  that  on  inspection  it  is  apparent  that  the 
different  authors  did  not  act  in  concert,  and  that  an  at- 
tempted blending  was  thereafter  made  by  other  persons, 
who  attempted  to  retain  the  whole  of  the  different  ver- 
sions, to  do  which,  it  was  found  impossible  to  make  them 
harmonize.     Hence  the  jars,  conflicts,  and  absurdities." 

This  author  says  there  is  evidence  that  this  first  attempt 
to  harmonize  and  compile  took  place  in  the  time  of  Heze- 
kiah  and  under  his  supervision. (about  825  or  800  B.  C.) ; 
Kezekiah  removed  many  useless  repetitions,  condensed 
and  pruned  ad  libitum. 

Renan  further  informs  us  that  while  the  two  king- 
doms, Israel  and  Judah,  held  many  traditions  in  com- 
mon, nevertheless  after  their  separation  under  Reho- 
boam  Jerusalem  had  documents  unknown  to  Israel;  that 
neither  the  Elohist  nor  the  Jehovist  contained  a  devel- 
oped Thora;  that  the  decalogue  was  written  at  Jerusa- 
lem, while  the  books  of  the  covenant  were  written  at  the 
north ;  that  at  this  time,  and  probably  as  the  result  of  this 
compilation,  Iahveh  and  Elohim  became  merged  in  one, 
the  Jehovah  of  the  Hebrews  and  Christians.  We 
learn  that  the  book  of  David  was  written  not  earlier  than 
the  captivity;  some  assert  as  late  as  175  B.  C.  The  book 
of  Enoch,  says  Heinrich  Ewald,  was  written  at  various 
times  between  144  and  120  B.  C,  and  compiled  in  the 
first  half  century  before  Christ. 

I'rom  this  time  all  seems  to  undergo  a  change.  Jehovah 
is  not  a  new  divinity;  only  a  change  of  name  has  taken 
place.  He  is  the  same  great  solar  orb  of  the  Chaldeans 
and  Egyptians;  the  same  great  divine  being,  in  the  form 


And  Christian  Mythology.  61 

of  man,  who  held  the  torch  and  lighted  the  children  of 
Israel  out  of  the  accursed  land  of  the  Pharaohs;  the  same 
who  commanded  the  marauding  Hebrew  to  invade  the 
homes  of  the  peaceful  Canaanites.  Iahveh  had  by  his 
intimate  connection  with  the  Hebrew  priests  acquired 
such  an  unenviable  reputation,  not  only  among  the 
pagans,  but  with  his  own  people,  that  a  change  became  a 
necessity,  and  so,  under  the  mild  influence  and  the 
ready  pen  of  the  revisers  of  his  divine  laws,  he  was  given 
the  name  of  Jehovah,  and  under  this  appellation  he  soon 
became  metamorphosed,  and  assumed  jurisdiction  over 
all  the  peoples  and  nations  of  the  earth.  He  had  turned 
Over  a  new  leaf;  a  new  history  was  to  be  written;  a  reign 
of  humanity  was  to  be  inaugurated;  peace  on  earth,  at 
I  so  far  as  this  ruler  was  concerned,  had  commenced. 
The  wars  of  the  Israelites  thereafter  were  their  wars,  in 
which  Iahveh.  now  Jehovah,  took  no  part;  good-will  to 
all  mankind  was  the  order  from  heaven;  a  new  Jerusalem 
in  which  were  to  be  gathered  all  the  nations  of  the  earth 

had  by  the  prophets  been  foretold,  and  the  new  Jerusalem 
was  to  be  ruled  over  b)  a  descendanl  of  the  house  oi 
David,  who,  according  to  the  Sadducees,  was  to  Ik-  its  \«  > 
litical  king,  but  according  to  the  Phari  sees,  was  to  become 
a  spiritual  ruler.     Between  these  two  [actions  strife  was 

ndered;  amid  the  turmoil  a  Messiah  was  ushered  in, 
.-]  church  was  established,  and  pri<  created,  who 

tool  chargi  and  <  timed  control  over  this  new  divinity, 
and  I'd  him  from  the  path  of  virtue  into  vice.  \  relapse 
Si  t  in  when  Jehovah  be<  ame  the  unwilling  instrumenl  in 
the  hand  i  i    i      ute,  torture,  burn,  and  I  ill 

e  oi  his  p<  opl<  who  did  nol  believe  that  thi  ii  l  ""1  had 
a  son,  and  that  son  a  virgin  mother. 

Under  the  direction  of  the  Father  and  Son,  war  • 


62  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

tinued  by  the  priests  for  more  than  a  thousand  years. 
When  outraged  humanity  could  endure  it  no  longer,  the 
people  declared  for  a  better  God  and  a  higher  order  of 
humanity.  Luther  and  Calvin  came  to  the  rescue,  but 
they,  too,  were  intolerant,  urging  Jehovah  to  continue  his 
persecutions.  Then  science  came  to  the  surface,  and  de- 
creed all  Gods  to  be  myths. 

Now  let  us  return  and  make  further  proof  as  to  the 
origin  of  these  scriptures.  Hengstenberg,  in  his  disser- 
tations on  the  Pentateuch,  says  that  the  five  books  bear 
unmistakable  evidence  of  being  the  work  of  many 
authors,  and  written  at  different  times;  and  he  quotes 
Ezra,  who  says  that  he,  with  the  aid  of  five  persons,  wrote 
these  books  in  forty  days.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
Ezra  wrote  or  compiled  these  books  at  Babylon,  about 
i  ,000  years  after  the  death  of  Moses. 

Francois  Lenormant,  a  firm  Christian,  and  one  of  the 
greatest  archaeologists,  in  his  work  entitled,  "Beginnings 
of  History,"  says:  "I  find  myself  compelled  to  yield  to 
evidence  that  the  books  of  the  Pentateuch  (the  Elohist 
and  Jehovist)  are  not  the  writings  of  Moses,  nor  of  any 
one  man;  the  Jehovist  is  not  the  oldest,  and  this  is  now 
admitted  among  the  highest  English  and  German  schol- 
ars, Protestant  and  Catholic.  And  at  least  the  first  four 
books  of  the  Pentateuch,  as  we  now  have  them,  do  not 
date  further  back  than  the  captivity.  That  which  we 
read  in  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis  is  not  an  account 
dictated  by  God,  but  it  is  a  tradition,  whose  origin  is  lost 
in  the  night  of  the  remotest  ages,  and  which  all  of  the 
great  nations  of  Western  Asia  possessed  in  common, 
with  some  variations."  He  further  says:  "The  very  form 
given  in  the  Bible  is  so  closely  related  to  that  which  has 
been  latelv  discovered  in  Babvlon  and  Chaldea,  it  fol- 


And  Christian   Mythology.  63 

lows  so  exactly  the  same  course,  that  it  is  quite  impos- 
sible for  me  to  doubt  any  longer  that  it  has  the  same 
origin.  The  family  of  Abraham  carried  this  tradition 
with  it  in  the  migration  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  into 
Palestine,  and  even  then  it  was  doubtless  already  fixed  in 
writing,  or  in  oral  form." 

This  author  further  says:  "The  Hebrew  Genesis  is  from 
at  least  two  distinct  sources,  written  at  different  times, 
and  by  at  least  two  persons." 

It  will  be  seen  on  examination  that  these  Mosaic  ac- 
counts conflict  on  various  points;  two  different  stories  of 
creation  arc  given. 

The  Mosaic  legends  of  creation,  the  first  man,  his  fall, 
the  serpent,  the  garden  of  Eden,  the  flaming  sword,  and 
the  account  of  the  flood  have  their  parallels.  Similar 
legends  existed  from  the  Nile  to  the  Indus  long  before  the 
days  "f  Moses,  as  will  be  shown  further  on. 

The  Rev.  A.  1 1.  Sayce,  who  lias  devoted  a  great  amount 
of  time  to  archaeology,  and  especially  to  the  Assyrio- 
Babylonian  inscriptions,  in  his  work  entitled  "Records 
"f  t!  ing  of  the  legends  of  creation  con- 

tained in  the  Chaldean  and  Mosaic  accounts,  says:  "In 
I  creation  is  divided  into  seven  sue 
and  the  words  in  ■  are  substantiall) 

The  world  has  been  preceded  l>v  a  watery 
reation  agrees  in  the  two  ac 
counts."    Tl  true  of  the  accounts  given  in  Hindu 

■ 
Draper,  in  his  work  entitled  "Conflict  ol  and 

ml  <>f  the  creation  and 
i  fialdean  l< 
Th-  r,  which  are  at  least 

rs  oldrr  than  Christ,  mid  4<~>r>  Mian 


(34  Commentaries  on  Hebreiv 

Moses,  contain  the  accounts  of  the  creation  of  the  world, 
of  the  fall  of  man,  and  a  flood  with  an  ark  and  a  saved 
family. 

Mr.  F.  C.  Cook,  a  firm  Christian,  in  his  book  entitled 
"Origin  of  Religion,"  in  comparing  the  account  given  in 
the  book  of  Genesis  with  the  account  given  in 
the  Zend-Avesta,  of  the  creation  and  flood,  reluctantly 
says:  "It  does  not  matter  whether  these  accounts  were 
given  by  direct  revelation  to  Moses,  or  whether  the  writer 
recorded  faithfully  and  loyally  the  old  traditions  of  the 
human  race." 

Professor  Lenormant,  in  speaking  on  this  subject  with 
a  \iew  of  sustaining  his  Christian  religion,  says  that  al- 
though the  Chaldean  legends  from  which  the  Mosaic  ac- 
count was  copied  were  a  myth,  the  fact  that  they  (the  old 
myths)  were  copied  by  inspired  writers,  makes  the  ac- 
count become  spiritual,  and  so,  true.  According  to  the 
reasoning  of  this  author,  the  copying  of  a  legend  and 
myth  by  a  Christian  converts  myth  into  truth.  This  is 
strictly  in  accord  with  Christian  reasoning,  i.  e.,  a  lie  told 
by  a  Christian  is  thereby  converted  into  a  truth. 

In  the  Cyclopaedia  of  Biblical,  Theological,  and  Ecclesi- 
astical Literature,  published,  in  1883,  by  McClintock  & 
Strong,  we  are  told  by  the  pious  Rev.  McClintock,  or,  in 
other  words,  he  reluctantly  admits,  that  the  Old  Testa- 
ment was  written  by  Ezra  and  Nehemiah ;  and  that  it  re- 
ceived accessions  for  many  years  after  their  death  until 
the  time  of  the  Maccabees.  He  further  says  that  the 
combined  evidence  of  tradition  and  the  general  course  of 
Jewish  history  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Canon,  in 
its  present  shape,  was  formed  gradually,  beginning  with 
Ezra,  and  continuing  through  the  Persian  period  down  to 
322  B.  C. 


And  Christ  in  a  Mythology.  65 

If  this  writer  had  told  the  full  truth,  he  would  have 
added  that  there  is  abundant  evidence  showing-  that  the 
Hebraic-Chaldean  writings,  comprising-  the  Pentateuch 
and  much  of  the  other  sacred  writings  of  the  Hebrews, 
were  taken  from  the  Chaldean  legends,  but,  as  the  clergy 
have  been  engaged  for  more  than  1,800  years  in  propagat- 
ing a  gigantic  falsehood,  it  would  be  too  much  to  expect 
of  human  nature  to  believe  them  capable  of  at  once  re- 
versing their  whole  lives  by  telling  the  whole  truth  so  re- 
cently by  them  learned. 

Modern  Judaism. 

The  address  delivered  at  the  religious  congress,  at  the 
late  World's  Fair,  held  at  Chicago,  by  Rabbi  S.  H.  Sonne- 
schein,  contains  the  modern  ideas  held  by  the  Hebrews. 
Among  other  tilings,  the  speaker  said:  "The  synagogue 
of  to-day  is  undergoing  great  changes;  it  is  represented 
by  three  differenl  schools.  The  orthodox  branch  is  still 
■ .  under  the  ban  of  the  Talmud,  which  is  now  but 
a  stagnant  pool,  a  walled-in  theology,  feeding  on  the 
crumbs  of  the  antiquated  past.  At  the  other  extreme 
radical  and  followers  are 

disciples  of  tl  philosophy    and  ■ 

modern  ruthless  Bible  criticism,  with  their 
bulous  life-force  of  the  cosmos,  the  concen- 
trated inti  of  Organized  atoms  and  cells  Of  natural 

m  holy  writ  isan  antiquated  literature,  Abra- 
ham a  myth,  romance,  and  Judaism  a  phenix, 
live  musl  first  sacrifice  il  elf  up*  m  the 
altar  of  self-cremation," 


66  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

Origin  of  the  Sabbath. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  Hebrews  and  Christians 
have  ever  claimed  that  Sunday,  or,  as  they  call  it,  the  Sab- 
bath, had  its  origin  with  the  children  of  Israel.  Nothing 
can  be  further  from  the  truth.  This  claim  of  course  rests 
on  the  Hebrew  Bible.  In  the  book  of  Exodus,  xx,  n, 
the  origin  of  the  week  of  seven  days  is  made  to  rest  on  the 
alleged  Jehovistic  story  of  the  creation  of  the  world;  while 
in  Deuteronomy,  v,  15,  the  claim  is  made  that  the  week, 
with  its  Sabbath,  had  its  origin  with  the  exodus  of  the 
Jews  out  of  Egypt;  thus  raising  a  conflict  in  the  claim- 
ant's own  family.  On  this  claim  the  Sabbath,  or  Sunday, 
has  been  treated  as  a  sacred  day,  and  its  observance  as 
such  has,  by  custom  and  by  law,  been  enforced  in  all 
Christian  countries.  If  this  claim  of  the  Hebrews  and 
Christians  cannot  be  proven,  then  the  sacred  character  of 
the  day  cannot  be  sustained.  It  will  be  observed,  on 
further  research,  that  the  so-called  Mosaic  account  of 
creation,  in  treating  of  this  day,  does  not,  even  on  its  face, 
purport  to  establish  or  inaugurate  the  Sabbath,  for  it 
reads,  "Remember  the  Sabbath,"  etc.,  treating  it  as  an 
already  established  institution. 

According  to  the  latest  and  most  reliable  historical 
evidence  we  have  on  this  subject,  the  Sunday,  the  day  set 
apart  for  the  worship  of  the  sun,  had  its  source  or  origin 
with  the  Accadian  astrologers,  more  than  2,000  years  be- 
fore Moses.  This  people  at  that  early  date  were  not  only 
versed  in  astrology,  but  they  had  some  knowledge  of  as- 
tronomy; they  recognized  our  solar  system,  the  relation 
of  the  planets  to  each  other,  their  revolutions,  including 
the  revolution  of  our  earth  around  the  sun ;  but  they  knew 
nothing  of  Uranus  or  Neptune.     They  were  familiar  with 


And  Christian  Mythology.  67 

the  legends  of  the  creation  of  the  world,  if  they  were  not 
the  real  authors  of  them. 

At  a  later  date  these  legends  were  held  in  common 
among  all  of  the  Oriental  nations.  As  to  the  mythical 
six  days  of  creation,  and  the  Sunday,  or  day  of  rest,  Mr. 
Blake,  in  his  "History  of  the  Heavens,"  says:  "The  Ac- 
cadians,  or  Elamites,  seem  to  be  the  authors  of  the 
legends  of  creation,  the  six  days'  work,  and  rest  on  the 
seventh;  they  determined  the  solar  year,  divided  it  into 
twelve  months,  and  into  weeks  of  sewn  days." 

Neptune  and  Uranus,  as  before  stated,  not  having  been 
discovered  by  this  people,  they  named  the  seven  known 
planets,  and  called  the  days  of  the  week  after  them:  Sun- 
day for  the  sun,  Monday  for  the  moon,  Tuesday  for  Mars, 
Wednesday  for  Mercury,  Thursday  for  Jupiter,  Friday  for 
\  runs,  and  Saturday  for  Saturn.  To  the  six  planets,  as 
Cods,  the  Accadians  ascribed  the  creation  of  the  world. 
each  planet  performing  its  or  his  pari  of  the  work.  The 
work  ha  n  completed    on  the    sixth    day.  these 

planetary  divinities  rested  on  the  seventh,  celebrated  their 
and  oflfered  up  prayers  and  sacrifices  to  the  sun,  the 
of  all  the  Gods,  thereby  laying  the  foundation  for 

!  in  honor  of  the  sun. 

Th-  en  handed  down  from  the  \.c- 

cadians  to  the  <  haldeans,  the  Assyrians,  and  the  I 
the  authors  of  the  Thora  taken  from  1 
ana  adopted  into  the  relij   ou        item  of  the  Hebrews. 
The  Egyptian    having  commenced  their  week  on  Sun 
•heir  Sabbath  fell  on  Saturday .     This  was  strictl)  fol 
lowed  by  the  I  [ebn 
The  Brahmans  adopted  the  same  system,  but  com 

ed  their  week  on  the  da;  of  Venus,  Friday. 
The  I  h  !■■   wb  and.  later,  the  <  Christians,  in  their  system 


68  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

of  borrowing,  copied  the  word  Sabbath,  which  was  the 
term  used  in  Chaldea,  Assyria,  and  Egypt.  The  He- 
brews recognizing  but  one  divine  being,  and  having  con- 
solidated these  seven  divinities  into  one,  Elohim,  after- 
ward called  Jehovah,  they  in  their  borrowed  legends  as- 
signed to  him  the  whole  task  of  creation,  following  the 
same  order,  using  the  same  names,  and  occupying  the 
same  time  as  in  the  Accadian  legends. 

Strict  observance  of  the  Sabbath  was  enforced  by  the 
laws  of  Elam,  Chaldea,  Babylon,  and  Assyria  thousands 
of  years  before  Moses,  as  has  been  proven  from  the  in- 
scriptions taken  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  cities  of  those 
countries.  Cooking,  washing,  cleaning  of  clothes,  offer- 
ing sacrifices,  riding,  public  speaking,  cursing,  and  even 
taking  medicine,  were  all  prohibited  on  the  Sabbath  day. 
Apply  this  rule,  and  our  clergymen  would  have  to  close 
their  churches  on  Sunday. 

As  to  borrowing  this  Sabbath  from  the  pagans,  Jo- 
sephus,  Philo,  and  Juleus  Clemens  all  admit,  yes,  they 
boldly  assert,  that  the  Sabbath  did  not  originate  with  the 
Hebrews,  but  that  it  was  in  common  use  among  all  the 
Oriental  nations. 

Dion  Cassius,  the  Roman  senator  and  historian,  says: 
"The  Egyptians  were  well  acquainted  with  the  true  revo- 
lution of  the  planets,  including  the  earth,  more  than  2,000 
years  B.  C. ;  they  divided  the  year  into  months  and  into 
weeks  of  seven  days;  named  the  days  after  the  seven 
planets,  beginning  their  week  with  Sunday.  The  He- 
brews borrowed  their  week  and  Sabbath  from  the 
Egyptians,  and  so  their  Sabbath  fell  on  Saturday." 

As  to  the  Christians,  in  the  fourth  century  they  ignored 
the  Jewish  Sabbath,  and  substituted  the  Roman  Sun-day. 
The  observance  of  this  day  having  fallen  into  disuse,  both 


And  Christian  Mythology.  69 

the  pagans  and  Christians  clamored  for  its  restoration;  to 
appease  both  parties,  Constantine,  while  yet  a  pagan, 
issued  an  edict  in  the  year  321,  which  reads  as  follows: 
"On  the  venerable  day  of  the  Sun,  let  the  magistrates  and 
people,  residing  in  the  cities  rest,  and  let  all  workshops  be 
closed." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  venerable  day  of  the 
Sun  was  the  day  set  apart  by  pagan  Rome  for  the  wor- 
ship of  Apollo,  and  called  the  venerable  Sun-day,  the  day 
for  worshiping  the  Sun  God. 

In  both  the  original  and  borrowed  legends,  the  creators 
got  tired  and  rested  on  the  seventh  day,  or  day  of  the  Sun. 
This  sacred  seventh  day  of  the  Accadians,  as  handed 
down  to  posterity,  has  ever  been  observed  as  a  day  of  rest 
and  praise  of  the  great  luminary. 

As  before  stated,  this  venerable  seventh  day,  with  its 
observances,  was  adopted  by  the  early  Christians,  just  as 
lcceived  from  the  Jews,  and  was  retained  to  the  time  "t" 
Constantine,  who  changed  it  from  the  seventh  to  the  first 
day  of  the  week  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  Rome; 
since  which  time  the  venerable  day  of  the  Sun  of  pagan 
Rome  has  been  incorporated  into  the  religious  systems  <>f 
all  Christendom. 

The  Christian  priests  and  clergymen  are  terribly  in  ear 
:        in  their  claim  »r  \<  >r  the  observance  of  this  pagan  Sun 
day,  for  it  is  on  tins  venerable  "Sabbath"  day  that  "The 
sly  mountebank  attends  hi-  trade,  harangues  the  rabble, 
and  is  better  paid." 

Chaldean   Legends  of  Creation. 

This  brings  11  1  to  the  proper  place  foi  comparing 

the  ( lialdean  and  M<  1  1  eation.    The  in 

soriptions  <-ii  the    Issyrio-Babylonian    tablets,  as  found 


70  Commentaries  on  Hebreio 

among  the  ruins,  were  so  much  mutilated  that  only  parts 
of  the  legends  remained  perfect;  but  enough  was  found  to 
show  a  story  substantially  like  the  one  contained  in  the 
Mosaic  records.  The  inscriptions  on  the  first  tablet 
speak  of  the  existence  of  the  Gods  before  the  creation, 
and  then  say,  that  in  the  beginning  all  was  void;  that  the 
heavens  had  not  been  raised,  that  the  abyss  had  not 
broken  its  foundations.  The  Gods  then  say,  "Let  there 
be  made  earth  for  the  dwelling  of  man,  that  he  may  have 
dominion  over  all  created  things,  and  let  the  heavens  be 
made."  The  account  on  the  second,  third,  and  fourth 
tablets  shows  that  a  firmament  was  made  and  called 
heaven;  that  the  waters  were  divided  from  the  land;  that 
the  Gods  commanded  the  earth  to  bring  forth  all  kinds  of 
vegetation,  and  that  each  kind  should  produce  its  kind. 
The  account  on  the  fifth  tablet  says,  "The  Gods  arranged 
the  stars  in  the  heavens  to  shine,  and  they  fixed  the  years; 
the  moon  was  made  to  light  the  night;  the  sun  to  rise  in 
the  east  and  go  in  his  course."  The  account  on  the  sixth 
tablet  says,  "The  Gods  created  the  monsters  of  the  sea, 
the  beasts  of  the  field,  birds  of  the  air,  and  all  creeping 
tilings,  and  commanded  each  to  produce  after  its  own 
kind,  and  they  were  sent  forth  to  multiply." 

Then  follows  the  creation  of  man,  called  Admi,  or 
Adami,  meaning  man  in  general,  and  being  used  as  sym- 
bolical of  earth. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Mosaic  account  treats 
Adam,  or  speaks  of  him,  in  both  characters.  In  some 
places  he  is  spoken  of  as  a  man,  or  the  man,  while  in  other 
places  in  the  same  account  he  is  referred  to  as  man,  man- 
kind in  general.  These  Chaldean  legends  say  that  man 
was  created  pure;  that  the  Gods  breathed  the  breath  of 
hfe  into  him,  and  commanded    him  to  serve  the  Gods. 


And  Christ ia n  Mythology.  71 

Then  follows  a  command  to  woman  to  obey  her  husband. 
The  account  then  proceeds  to  say  that  the  dragon  (ser- 
pent) led  man  to  sin  and  to  know  good  from  evil ;  that  in 
consequence  of  his  disobedience  the  Gods  drove  him  out 
of  Canduiya,  a  land  watered  by  four  rivers,  naming  the 
Euphrates  as  one  of  them.  The  sacred  grove  Anu  was 
then  guarded  by  a  sword,  turned  to  the  four  points  of  the 
compass.  The  Gods  then  pronounced  a  curse  on  Admi 
and  his  issue,  and  threatened  to  destroy  his  seed;  the 
diagon  is  also  cursed. 

At  the  beginning  of  each  tablet,  covering  a  series  of 
acts,  the  Gods  express  satisfaction  and  pleasure  in  the 
preceding  work;  while  in  the  Mosaic  account  the  same 
satisfaction  is  expressed  at  the  close  of  each  act,  or  day's 
work.  <  >n  one  of  the  tablets  is  a  cut  or  drawing,  repre- 
senting a  tree  with  fruit  on  it,  a  woman  on  one  side  of  it, 
with  a  serpenl  behind  her,  and  a  man  on  the  other  side; 
the  woman  is  in  the  act  of  plucking  the  fruit  with  an  out- 
stretched hand. 

Mosaic  Legends  of  Creation. 

th«-  Mosaic  account  is  accessible  to  all,  we  here  give 
only  its  substance. 

In  -  nning,  God  created  the  heavens  and  earth, 

which  were  without   form,  and  darkness  was  on  the  face 

of  the  deep.  Light  was  thru  created,  and  divided  from 
the  darkness.  The  light  was  called  day,  and  the  darkness 
night.     ( »n  the  second  day,  the  firmamenl  was  made  and 

called   heaven.      (  >n   the  third   day.   the   waters   and    land 

were  separated,  the  land  called  earth  and  the  water  ea; 
the  earth  was  commanded  to  produce  gra  i,  herbs,  and 
fruit,  each  producing  it-  own  kind.     '  mi  the  fourth  day, 

God  created  light  in  the  firmament, and  said  Let  there  be 


72  Commentaries  on  Hebrett) 

signs,  seasons,  and  years.  Two  great  lights  were  then 
made,  and  set  in  the  firmament,  the  sun  to  rule  the  day, 
the  moon  the  night.  On  the  fifth  day,  the  waters  were 
commanded  to  produce  living  creatures  and  fowls,  each 
to  produce  its  kind.  On  the  sixth  day,  man  was  made 
and  given  dominion  over  all  creation.  At  the  end  of  each 
day.  God  expressed  himself  satisfied  with  his  work. 

The  account  then  goes  on  and  says  man  was  made  out 
of  dust,  and  life  breathed  into  him.  Man  was  then  put 
into  a  garden,  watered  by  four  rivers,  called  Pison,  Gihon, 
Hiddekel,  and  Euphrates,  and  forbidden  to  eat  certain 
fruit.  The  man  was  called  Adam,  and  given  a  wife  called 
Eve ;  she  was  commanded  to  obey  her  husband.  The  ac- 
count goes  on  to  show  that  the  forbidden  fruit  was  eaten, 
in  consequence  of  which  the  pair  were  driven  from  the 
garden,  and  a  flaming  sword  placed  at  the  gate,  turned  to 
the  four  points  of  the  compass. 

The  terms  Adam  and  Eve,  in  the  Chaldean  dialect, 
were  symbolical  of  earth  and  water,  the  source  of  all  life. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  scenes  in  both  the  Chaldean 
and  the  Mosaic  accounts  were  placed  or  laid  in  the  valley 
of  the  Euphrates. 

The  Chaldean  Flood  Legend. 

As  the  tablets  containing  the  Chaldean  account  of  a 
flood  were  found  in  an  almost  perfect  condition,  we  shall 
be  able  to  give  a  more  full  accounT  of  this  affair  than  we 
have  given  of  the  creation. 

The  name  of  the  hero  of  the  flood  is  given  as  Izdubar. 
While  it  is  said  Moses  got  his  account  from  Jehovah,  Iz- 
dubar gets  his  from  Hasisadra,  the  man  who  was  saved  in 
tfce__ark.  The  tablets  on  which  these  legends  werem- 
scribed  are  characterized  as  the  Izdubar  series,  by  George 


And    Christian   Mytliolvyy.  73 

Smith,  the  author  of  two  books,  entitled  "Assyrian  Dis- 
coveries" and  "Chaldean  Genesis."  The  Izdubar  series, 
as  found,  is  a  copy  made  from  a  former  copy ;  which  sec- 
ond copy  dates  back  at  least  2,000  years  before  Christ, 
and  600  years  before  Muses.  How  old  the  original  was 
can  only  be  a  matter  of  conjecture. 

After  lying  in  the  British  Museum  for  years  as  mere 
curiosities,  Grotefend  finally  found  the  key,  and  with  it 
unlocked  the  storehouse,  deciphered  the  cuneiform 
characters,  and  gave  to  the  world  a  library  of  ancient 
knowledge;  among  which  were  found  the  legends  and 
myths  from  which  Ezra  copied,  and  palmed  off  as  of 
lie  origin,  the  stories  of  the  creation  and  the  flood. 
Credit  is  due  to  Mr.  Young  for  deciphering  the  hiero- 
glyphics on  the  Egyptian  monuments.  The  story  runs 
that  Izdubar  derived  his  descent  from  the  Gods;  that  he 
was  a  great  king,  and  ruled  at  Babylon  over  the  cities  of 
Akkad.  F.rcch,  Calah.  and  Nibur  in  the  land  of  Shinar. 

The  biblical  account  makes  Nimrod  rule  over  the  same 
in  the  land  of  Shinar.  l/.dubar  and  Nimrod  are  be- 
1  by  Mr.  Smith  and  other  writers  on  this  subject  to 

tie  and  the  same  person,     [zdubar,  like  Nimrod,  was 

r,  for  in  those  days  it  was  the  custom  of  the 

to  hunt  wild  bea  I  ially  the  Hon.     1  [eabani,  a 

rous  of  testing  th(  .  broughl  him 

a  lion,  which  Izdubar  at  once,  like  Samson,  slew ;  ana"  now 

ing  and  PTeabani  become  great  friends  and  hunt  to 

gether.     Kusu,  representing  the  sun,  was  the  father  of 

and  the  Bible  says  that  Kusu  was  the  father  of 

Nimrod,  a  Cushite,  and  that  he  built  Nineveh. 

Calah,  and  Resen.    Josephus  says   Nimrod  caused  the 

:  of  Babel  to  be  built.     Some  writ<  rs  place  Nimrod 

a  the  time  of  Abraham.     Africanus  and  l.u  ebius  carrv 


74  Commentaries  on   Hebrew 

him  back  to  the  flood.  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  says  that 
Xergal  was  Ximrod  deified.  Rev.  A.  H.  Sayce  thinks 
that  Nimrod  was  the  Babylonian  God,  Marodah;  while 
the  decipherers  of  the  cuneiform  characters  say  that  Iz- 
dubar  was  none  other  than  the  Nimrod  of  the  Bible. 

The  Chaldean  legends  go  on  and  say,  Izdubar  had  a 
dream,  that  he  called  on  his  friend  Heabani  to  interpret  it. 
The  Goddess  Ishtar  fell  in  love  with  Izdubar,  and  offered 
him  her  hand  and  kingdom,  which  he  rejected,  at  which 
she  became  enraged,  and  applied  to  her  father,  the  God 
Hea,  to  avenge  the  insult.  Hea  espoused  her  cause, 
and  sent  a  bull  to  destroy  Izdubar.  Izdubar  and  his 
friend  Heabani  slay  the  beast.  Ishtar,  in  despair,  de- 
scends into  Hades  to  invoke  the  powers  of  darkness  on 
the  head  of  the  king.  In  her  descent  she  has  to  pass 
through  seven  ponderous  iron  gates;  at  the  first  she 
finds  a  guard,  who  refuses  to  allow  her  to  pass,  alleging 
that  no  one  has  ever  passed  there  except  through  the 
shadow  of  death.  Ishtar  becomes  enraged  and  threatens 
to  break  down  the  gate.  The  keeper,  alarmed,  consents 
to  open  the  gate,  but  requires  the  Goddess  to  leave  the 
jewels  of  her  crown.  She  throws  them  at  his  feet  and 
passes  to  the  second  gate,  where  she  has  the  same  experi- 
ence, and  there  further  disrobes  herself.  In  this  way  she 
passes  the  seven  gates,  at  each  further  disrobing  herself. 
She  now  reaches  Hades,  and  appears  before  the  Prince  of 
Darkness  in  all  her  natural  loveliness.  The  Demons 
tremble  at  her  power,  and  a  messenger  is  sent  from  Hades 
to  the  realms  of  light,  to  implore  the  aid  of  the  great  God ; 
Hea  heeds  the  invocation,  and  calls  Ishtar  back  to  earth. 
Heabani  is  now  killed,  and  Izdubar  mourns  his  loss,  aban- 
dons his  kingdom,  takes  a  ship  and  a  pilot,  and  crosses 
the  sea  in  search  of  Hasisadra,  who,  after  leaving  the  ark, 


And  Christian  Mythology.  75 

was  translated  (like  Enoch)  to  the  home  of  the  great 
Gods.  Having  learned  the  road  to  the  realm  where 
dwells  Hasisadra,  Izdubar  crosses  a  barren  waste  of  sand 
i"  an  oasis,  where  there  are  trees  bearing  jewels.  Here 
Izdubar  meets  two  beautiful  women  named  Sidura  and 
Sabitu,  with  whom  he  wanders  until  he  meets  Urhamsi,  a 
boatman,  when  the  two  sail  through  the  realms  of  death, 
and  there  meet  Ragma,  who  inquires  after  Heabani. 
1  lere  Hasisadra  appears  and  tells  to  Izdubar  the  story  of 
the  deluge. 

Hasisadra' s  Story  of  the  Deluge. 

The  story  being  a  very  long  one,  we  give  only  its  sub- 
stance, which  is  as  follows : 

Hasisadra  then  said  that  while  he  was  on  the  earth  the 
God  Hea  told  him  that  the  people  had  become  so  wicked 
that  he  would  bring  a  great  flood  on  the  earth,  destroy  all 
mankind  and  all  living  things;  that  he,  1  tasisadra,  should 
build  a  ship  six  hundred  cubits  lung  and  sixty  cubits  in 
width,  and  into  the  deep  launch  ii ;  I  [asisadra  said  to  1  [ea, 
the  i  I  and  young,  will  deride  me.    1  [ea  then  said 

to  Hi  to  them  that  they  have  turned  from  me, 

gO  into  the  ship,   take  thy   food,  thy  goods,   tin    women 

and  the  young  men;  the  birds  of 

lir  and    animals    of  the  field.  I    will    furnish  to  you. 
adra  then  told  Izdnbar  that  he  bnilt  the  ship,  that  its 
e'renit  was  fourteen   measures,  that   he   roofed    and    en 

1  it,  that  I  -i  it  on  the  sixth  time,  that  he  exam 

ined  its  exterior  on  the  seventh  time,  and  its  interior  on 
the  eighth  time.      Ilea  -aid,  planks  againsl   the  waters    I 

place,  I  repaired  the  rents,  three  measures  of  bitumen  I 
placed  over  the  sides;  [  then  collected  food  and  all  was 
ready.    I  broughl  into  the  ship  all  of  m)  male  and  female 


76  Commentaries  on  Htbrtw 

servants,  and  the  animals  of  the  held.  Hea  then  told  me 
that  he  would  send  the  flood  in  the  night. 

Hasisadra  then  went  on  and  said  to  Izdubar:  I  entered 
the  ship  and  closed  it  up,  and  it  rained,  as  Hea  had  told 
me,  until  the  flood  reached  the  heavens,  and  all  life  was 
destroyed  on  the  earth,  and  during  the  rain  the  Gods  in 
heaven  wept.  Hasisadra  then  said  to  Izdubar,  six  days 
and  nights  passed,  the  wind,  deluge,  and  storm  over- 
whelmed the  earth,  and  on  the  seventh  day  the  storm  in 
its  course  was  calmed.  The  storm  and  all  the  deluge 
which  had  destroyed  life  on  the  earth  was  quieted  and  the 
deluge  ended. 

Hasisadra  further  said  to  Izdubar:  Corpses  of  men 
floated  on  the  water,  and  I  opened  the  window,  and  the 
light  broke  over  my  face,  and  I  sat  down  and  wept;  over 
my  face  flowed  my  tears;  I  saw  the  shore  as  the  boundary 
of  the  sea;  for  twelve  measures  the  land  rose;  to  the  coun- 
try of  Nizer  went  the  ship;  the  fifth  and  sixth  day  the 
mountains  of  Nizer  the  same;  on  the  seventh  day  I  sent 
forth  a  dove,  it  found  no  resting-place  and  returned;  I 
then  sent  forth  a  swallow,  and  it  finding  no  resting-place 
returned;  I  sent  forth  a  raven,  it  saw  the  decrease  of  the 
waters  and  never  returned ;  I  sent  the  animals  forth  to  the 
four  winds;  I  poured  out  libations;  I  built  an  altar  on  the 
peak  of  the  mountain;  I  built  a  fire  and  sacrificed  to  the 
Gods,  who  gathered  over  its  sweet  savor. 

Then  follows  a  long  talk  between  the  Gods  Hea  and  El, 
and  a  covenant  not  to  flood  the  earth  again.  The  ac- 
count then  goes  on  to  say  that  after  Hasisadra  had  sacri- 
ficed, the  other  people  came  out  of  the  ship,  and  when 
they  could  not  see  Hasisadra  they  called  aloud  for  him; 
they  heard  his  voice  in  the  clouds  telling  them  to  worship 
the  Gods. 


Ave/  Christian  Mythology.  77 

Then  follows  a  long  conversation  between  the  Gods, 
Hasisadra  and  Izdubar,  closing  by  Hasisadra  telling 
lzdubar  to  return  to  his  country;  Izdubar  then  in  com- 
pany with  I'rhamsi,  the  boatman,  returns  to  Erech. 
Finding  the  city  destroyed  he  wept  and  commenced  to  re- 
build it. 

The  Biblical  Flood. 

The  Mosaic  account  of  the  flood  is  much  shorter  than 

the  Chaldean  legend     It  commences  by  saying  that  God 

cepented  he  made  man.  and  he  threatened  to  destroy  him 

and  evcr_\-  living  thing  on  earth;  he  told  Noah  to  build  an 

ark,  300  cubits  long.  50  wide,  and  30  high,  put  a  window 

in  the  top,  and  a  door  in  the  side;  that  Noah  should  go 

into  the  ark  with  his  sons  and  their  wives,  take  a  pair  of  all 

animals   to  save  the  seed,  food  for  all,  and  at  the  end  of 

11  flays  it  should  rain  and  continue  to  rain  forty  days 

and  nights.    Tin-  accounl  says  Noah  did  as  commanded; 

that  it  did  rain  forty  days  and  nights,  and  all  living  cre.it  - 

were  destroyed  excepl   those  in  the  ark;  that  the 

1  >ne  hundred  and  fifty  days,  then  abated,  and 

the  ark  n^n]  on  Mount  Ararat:  thai  at  the  end  <>!  forty 

iah   opened  the   window  and   s<nt     forth  a   dove, 

which  finding  no  pla  •,  returned;  at  the  end  of 

1  days  he-  senl  forth  another  dove,  which  returned 

with  an  olive  leaf;  and  at  tin-  end  of  sevm  days  more  he 

sent  forth  the  dove,  which  never  returned.  Noah  removed 

the  top  of  the  ark  and  saw  the  ground  was  dry.     All  left 

tin'  ark  and  went  forth  to  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth. 
'1  then  built   an  altar  and  sacrificed  to  the  God,  and 
the  I. .,rd  jmelled  a  SWeel  savor,  and    aid  in  his  heart  thai 
he  would  not  d,  told  \oali  to  mull  1 

ply  and  replenish  the  earth,  and  he  covenanted  not  n.  de 


78  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

stroy  the  earth  again.    Noah  then  planted  a  vineyard,  got 
intoxicated  on  the  wine,  and  lived  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years  thereafter. 
Comparison  of  the  Mosaic  and  Chaldean  Legends. 

/ft  will  be  seen  by  comparison  of  these  accounts  of  an  al- 
legorical or  mythical  flood,  that  tiiexdiffej^cmly_iri_gpme 
: -slight" detail,  such  as  the  number  of  persons  saved,  the 
duration  of  the  flood,  and  the  kinds  of  birds  sent  out.  Out 
of  the  Chaldean  ship  went  a  dove,  a  swallow,  and  a  raven ; 
while  out  of  the  biblical  ark  went  a  dove  on  three  different 
occasions.  The  threat  to  destroy  all  living  things,  the 
command  to  build  the  ark,  the  animals  and  food  to  go  into 
it  to  save  the  seed,  the  building  of  the  ark,  going  in,  the 
deluge,  the  landing  on  a  mountain,  sending  out  the  birds 
on  three  occasions,  the  last  one  not  returning,  the  sacri- 
fice, the  smelling  a  sweet  savor,  the  blessing,  and  the  cov- 
enant not  to  destroy  the  earth  again  by  water  are  the  same 
in  both  accounts,  and  in  both  stories  the  scene  is  located 
in  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates. 

The  place  where  the  ark  landed,  in  the  Chaldean  ac- 
count, is  called  Nizir;  while  in  the  biblical  account  it  is 
called  Ararat.  The  word  Ararat  was  derived  from  the 
word  Urdu,  meaning  high  land. 

When  we  take  into  consideration  the  probability  that 
the  authors  of  the  Hebrew  Genesis  depended  entirely  on 
tradition  for  the  story  that  had  been  handed  down  from 
generation  to  generation  by  word  of  mouth,  it  is  only  sur- 
prising that  the  Mosaic  account  is  so  good  a  copy  of  the 
Chaldean  legend. 

Accounts  of  Creation,  by  Berosus  and  Others. 

These  Chaldean  legends,  with  other  accounts  of  an  his- 
torical character,  were  written  out  and  translated    into 


And  Christian  Mythology.  79 

Greek  by  Berosus,  a  Babylonian  priest,  about  360  to  330 
B.  C,  only  a  little  less  than  one  hundred  years  after  Ezra 
et  al  compiled  or  wrote  the  books  ascribed  to  Moses. 
Berosus  had  the  same  source  of  information  that  Ezra 
possessed:  his  story  and  the  Chaldean  legends  differ 
about  as  much  as  does  the  Hebrew  story  from  the  Chal- 
dean, and  he  says  that  this  account  of  the  creation  and 
the  Hood  was  an  allegorical  description  of  nature.  There 
is  another  legend  of  creation  closely  resembling  the  one 
related  by  Berosus,  which  came  from  the  city  of  Cutha. 
The  copy  found  at  Nineveh,  although  written  in  Semitic, 
after  the  consolidation  of  the  Gods  Ea,  Ishtar,  Zamama, 
Aminit,  Hebo,  and  Samas  about  2350  B.  C,  was  evidently 
taken  from  an  Accadian  text,  which  was  much  older  than 
this  date,  as  the  name  of  the  principal  hero  therein  was 
Memangab,  the  son  of  the  God  Benani  and  Belili,  his  wife, 
of  Accadia. 

Zoroaster's  Account  of  Creation. 

There  were  other  peoples  and  nations,  much  older  than 
the  Hebrews,  who  possessed  similar  stories  concerning 
the  creation  of  the  world.  In  the  Persian  sacred  script- 
ures, suppo  ed  to  have  been  written  by  Zoroaster,  who 
lived  not  later  than  [800  B.  C,  we  find  an  accounl  of  the 

creation  of  the  world,  of  a  firsl  man  and  woman,  who  are 

called  Mashia  and  Mashiana,  v.  ho  urn-  placed  in  a  garden, 
or  paradise,  and  there  were  in  communication  with 
Ormuzd,  the  sun  God;  thai  Ahriman  (the  evil  one),  in  the 
form  of  a  serpent,  entered  the  garden  and  corrupted  the 

pair,  v  ho  ■■.'■re  then  driven  out  of  the  garden. 

The  Zend  Avesta  al  0  1  ontain  an  accounl  of  a  deluge, 
wher<  .ion-  man,  1  alii  d  Yema,  was  commanded  by 

f  irmuzd  to  build  an  ark  and  placi  himself  and  family  and 


30  Commentaries  on   Hebrew 

all  pure  animals  therein.  The  command  being  complied 
with,  the  deluge  came  and  destroyed  all  life  on  the  earth 
except  that  in  the  ark.  The  man  Yema  is  then  com- 
manded to  go  forth,  subdue  and  cultivate  the  earth.  Yema 
leaves  the  ark,  and  like  Noah,  one  of  the  first  things  he 
does  is  to  get  intoxicated  on  wine ;  he  then  builds  cities, 
and  the  earth  is  peopled  with  his  descendants. 

The  Avesta  contains  the  further  statement,  that  Ahri- 
man  offered  the  kingdom  of  the  world  to  Zoroaster  if  he 
would  abjure  the  true  religion  and  forsake  Ormuzd.  The 
character  and  doings  of  Ahriman  as  pictured  in  the  Zend- 
Avesta  closely  resemble  those  given  of  Satan  in  the 
Christian  writings. 

This  Persian  story  of  the  creation  and  flood,  being  of 
later  origin  than  the  Chaldean,  like  the  Mosaic  story  was 
undoubtedly  borrowed  from  Chaldea. 

Hindu  Account  of  Creation. 

The  sacred  writings  of  the  Hindus  contain  an  account 
of  a  miraculous  creation  of  the  world  by  their  foremost 
divinity,  the  sun.  Of  their  doctrines  concerning  a  trinity, 
we  shall  have  more  to  say  when  we  come  to  speak  of  the 
Christian  myths. 

Scandinavian  Account  of  Creation. 

The  Scandinavians  conceived  ideas  concerning  the 
creation  of  the  world,  somewhat  resembling  those  of  the 
Chaldees  and  Hebrews.  According  to  their  theory,  be- 
fore the  earth  existed  all  was  chaos  and  vapor,  out  of  the 
midst  of  which  flowed  great  rivers;  the  warm  breath  of 
the  spring  sun  melted  the  ice,  out  of  which  issued  a  great 
spirit  called  Hel,  who  ruled  in  Helheim.  This  great  spirit 
created  the  world,  divided  the  day  from  night,  separated 


And  Christian  Mythology.  81 

the  land  from  the  water,  placed  in  the  heavens  the  sun, 
moon  and  stars,  and  created  the  animals  of  the  land  and 
the  fishes  of  the  sea.  After  this  the  Gods  looked  upon 
their  works  and  saw  that  they  were  incomplete  without 
man,  so  they  took  an  ash  tree,  out  of  which  they  made 
man  (an  improvement  over  a  mud  man).  To  give  him  a 
helpmate  they  made  woman  out  of  an  alder  bush.  The 
man  they  called  Aske,  and  the  woman,  Embla.  The  su- 
preme God  took  to  himself  a  wife  from  a  giant  race;  they 
had  issue,  three  sons,  Odin,  Vila,  and  Ye,  who  became 
associate  Gods  with  their  father.  The  Gods  then  estab- 
lished their  abode  in  a  paradise  called  Valhalla.  These 
people  believed  that  the  world  would  come  to  an  end ;  that 
in  the  last  days  there  would  be  war  among  the  Gods;  fire 
would  spread  over  the  earth,  the  sun  would  sink  into  the 
ocean,  and  all  lift  would  cease  to  exist;  after  which  the 
Gods  would  create  a  new  heaven  and  earth,  and  people 
the  new  earth  with  perfect  beings,  where  happiness  will 
reign  forever. 

Tin's  was  a  very  ancient  religion,  and  we  cite  this  much 
of  it  to  show  how  closely  it  resembles  the  sacred  writings 
and  teachings  of  the  Hebrews  and  Christians. 

i  this  array  of  evidence,  is  there  room  to  entertain  a 
doubt,  by  an-  able  man  or  woman,  thai  the  Bible 

story  of  creation,  of  Adam  and  Eve,  of  paradise,  and  of 
the  sin  and  fall  of  Adam,  as  well  as  the  story  of  the  flood, 
are  but  idle  talcs,  myths,  and  legends  borrowed  from  ori- 
ental nations  by  the  authors  of  \\\<:  Pentateuch? 

If  this  storv  be  false,  and  false  it  has  been  clearly  proven 
to  be,  what  1.  <>f  the  other   story,  that    ;i  i     \d;im 

simv  U,  so  (  li'  live  i"  redeem  the  fallen? 

Tf  there  wa-  uldbe  no  use 

for  a  redeemer.     According  to  th(    *  liristian  scheme,  the 


82  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

two  are  inseparably  connected,  the  latter  depending  on  the 
former;  the  deduction  follows  that  as  the  first  story  is 
false,  the  second  is  equally  false. 

The  Sadducees'  and  Pharisees*  Versions  of  the  Messiah. 

At  the  time  of  the  alleged  birth  of  Christ,  and  for  a  long- 
time prior  thereto,  there  existed  two  sects  or  classes  of 
Jews,  the  Sadducees  and  Pharisees.  Both  classes,  rest- 
ing their  opinions  on  prophecy,  were  looking  for  a  Mes- 
siah, a  second  coming  of  Moses,  a  Savior,  who  was  to  be 
of  the  House  of  David.  This  Messiah  was  to  gather  to- 
gether all  of  the  Jews  in  a  New  Jerusalem,  where  they 
were  to  be  made  happy  as  in  their  patriarchal  simplicity ; 
but  as  to  the  kind  of  Messiah  and  kingdom,  as  prophesied, 
to  which  they  were  looking  forward,  there  was  a  wide 
difference  of  opinion.  This  prophecy,  like  all  others,  was 
vague,  indefinite,  and  uncertain,  capable  of  almost  any 
construction.  The  Sadducees  construed  it  to  mean  a 
restoration  of  the  political  kingdom  as  it  existed  under 
the  reign  of  David  and  Solomon,  and  they  expected  to  re- 
turn to  their  long-looked-  and  wished-for  patriarchal  sim- 
plicity and  happiness;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Phari- 
sees asserted  that  the  new  kingdom  was  to  be  in  heaven 
and  of  a  spiritual  nature. 

Philo,  who  had  borrowed  Plato's  allegorical  system, 
enlarged  and  somewhat  modified  it,  belonged  to  the 
school  of  Pharisees. 

Philo,  profiting  by  the  Platonic  school,  inaugurated 
and  established  a  complete  system,  with  an  ideal  or  alle- 
gorical Savior,  had  him  crucified,  resurrected,  and  in 
heayen,  looking  after  the  interests  of  his  chosen  people. 

In  this  scheme  of  Philo  an  ideal  church,  with  its  priesK 
bishops,  and  presbyters,  had  been  created,  with  a  full  code 


And  Christian  Mythology.  83 

of  rules,  prayers,  ceremonies,  etc.;  in  short,  a  complete  re- 
ligious system  in  all,  or  nearly  all,  respects  like  that  of  the 
Christian  church  as  it  existed  after  the  death  of  Christ. 

This  allegorical  system  of  Philo  was  in  full  operation 
at  the  time  of  the  alleged  birth  of  Christ.  That  the 
Christian  scheme  in  all  its  essential  parts  was  borrowed 
from  the  ideal  teachings  of  Philo  there  can  hardly  be  a 
doubt,  as  will  be  shown  further  on.  The  two  systems, 
after  the  fathers  of  the  church  had  established  theirs,  so 
closely  resembled  each  other  that  several  of  the  Christian 
fathers,  as  well  as  the  followers  of  Philo,  could  not  see  any 
difference,  and  admitted  that  they  were  one  and  the  same. 

Origen  and  Philo  both  took  the  same  view  of  the  mat- 
ter, which  they  embodied  in  their  teachings;  nor  did  Ori- 
gen hesitate  to  teach  the  allegorical  character  of  the  sys- 
tem. This  he  found  himself  compelled  to  do,  so  far  as 
the  more  intelligent  were  concerned,  to  keep  his  doctrines 
from  being  treated  by  this  class  witli  contempt. 

We  will  here  take  leave  of  the  legends  of  the  1 1  el  news 
and  others,  go  into  Judea,  the  alleged  birthplace  of  (  "hrisi, 
and  explore  tin-  new  religion. 

Christ,  or  Chrlstus  :    Was  He  a  Real  Character,  or  Was 
He  a  Myth? 

Christ,  or  Christus  as  he  was  called  by  a  Roman  histo 
nan,  was  born,  it  is  claimed,  in  Judea,  in  a  little  obscure 
■I  called  Nazareth,  75.^  years  iv>>\\\  the  foundation  "i 
Rome. 
The  first  question  which  here  arises  is:  Was  he  ;i  real 
in,  or  an  i       '  1  al  the  b  on  as 

a  foundation  upon  which  to  rear  the  framework  <>f  a  new 
mythology?  We  use  this  term  in  its  proper  and  true 
sense,    for    all    religions,    as    ;t   matter  of    fart,  are  lm 


81  Commentaries  on  Hebreio 

myths.  That  a  man  by  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  once  ex- 
isted; that  he  was  a  Jew  and  lived  in  Judea,  may  be  true, 
for  Jesus  has  been,  and  is  to-day,  a  common  name  among 
the  Jews.  But  as  to  the  Jesus  Christ  of  the  four  gospels,  the 
evidence  clearly  shows  him  to  be  a  myth.  The  claim  that 
Christ  was  the  son  of  a  God  is  an  old  pagan  story  too  silly 
and  childish  to  merit  consideration.  That  claim  is  to-day 
only  made  by  the  man  who  lives  by  repeating  stale  false- 
hoods and  worn-out  legends,  and  by  a  class  of  men, 
women,  and  young  children  who  have  not  sufficient 
capacity  to  understand  plain  facts  when  clearly  presented. 

The  question  then  is,  did  the  generally  credited  histor- 
ical Christ  of  Nazareth  ever  live?  This  is  an  open  ques- 
tion, to  be  determined  one  way  or  the  other  according  to 
the  weight  of  evidence. 

The  fact  that  the  existence  of  this  man  has  been  ac- 
cepted by  nearly  one-fifth  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth, 
for  nearly  2,000  years,  would,  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, raise  at  least  a  very  strong  presumption  of  the 
real  existence  of  the  man,  thereby  throwing  the  onus,  or 
burden,  of  refuting  this  presumption  on  the  party  raising 
the  issue.  I  say,  under  ordinary  circumstances.  The 
facts  that  the  best  evidence  on  this  question  has  been  sup- 
pressed, and  that  the  power  of  the  church  has  been  used 
without  stint  to  suppress  investigation,  take  the  case  out 
of  the  ordinary  rule,  thereby  throwing  the  burden  of  proof 
on  the  church  party  to  maintain  its  claim.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  it  has  been  only  within  the  last  few  years 
that  anyone  had  the  privilege  to  question  the  position  of 
the  church. 

The  only  evidence  that  the  church  has  to  offer  is  the 
four  gospels;  if  these  gospels  are  forgeries,  as  they  have 
been  proven  to  be,  then  the  church  has  no  evidence  in 


And   Christian   Mythology.  Sh 

support  of  the  existence  of  such  a  man.  In  addition  to 
this,  the  church  fathers  were  never  able  even  to  guess, 
within  more  than  130  years,  the  time  of  the  man's  supposed 
birth  (Renan);  nor  can  they  tell  who  was  his  father,  or  even 
where  he  was  born,  or  what  became  of  him  between  the 
ages  of  twelve  and  thirty.  If,  in  fact,  such  a  man  did  once 
live,  how  is  all  of  this  ignorance  concerning  him  to  be  ac- 
counted for?  An  obscure  monk,  near  the  close  of  the 
sixth  century,  after  prodigious  labor,  finally  guessed  that 
the  man  was  born  about  580  years  prior  thereto ;  even  this 
guess  was  not  accepted  by  the  fathers  of  the  church  until 
the  close  of  the  eighth  century. 

The  question  here  naturally  arises,  If  Christ  were  a  real 
being  and  Christianity  true,  why  did  the  church  destroy 
all  of  the  original  evidence  bearing  on  these  points,  and 
why  did  the  church,  under  the  penalty  of  death,  prohibit 
every  attempt  to  investigate  its  claims  in  these  matters? 
Does  not  the  truth  everywhere  invite  investigation?  and 
is  it  not  equally  true  that  crime  and  fraud  fear  the  light  of 
truth?  Apply  this  rule,  and  ask  yourself  on  which  side 
the  church  and  iis  priests  stand. 

If  the  v.  ;em  or  scheme  of  Christianity  was  bor- 

■1,  and  the  n  ribed  to  the  four  gospels  are 

all  '.f  which  '  ereinafter  shown  to  be  the 

fact,  why  the  necessity  of  placing  a  genuine  person  at  the 

head  of  tl  and  borrowed  1< 

Christ,  •  1  >ctavius  B.  Frothingham, 

in  his  "'  •  the  Chri  accessible  ntific 

arch ;  his  image  cannol  be  re< 
writi;  were  i!!:'  nd  of  the 

d  to  1"'  a  I  'harisee,  and  a  nal 
tli.    The  Messiahs  all  out  of  Galilee,  all 

found  followers.    Tradition  goes  out  of  it-  way  to  connect 


86  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

Christ  with  the  "House  of  David."  The  moral  precepts 
put  into  his  mouth,  including  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
says  Strauss,  were  such  as  the  times  called  for,  and  so  they 
were  copied  from  tradition. 

The  critics  of  Strauss  insist  that  the  person  of  Christ 
must  have  lived;  that  he  could  not  have  been  invented. 
Strange  position  to  take,  says  Frothingham,  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  idealization  is  one  of  the  commonest  feats  of 
mankind ;  that  the  human  imagination  is  constantly  con- 
structing phantoms.  The  materials  for  constructing  the 
person  being  given  in  the  Hebrew  Genesis,  and  the  plastic 
power  being  provided  by  Hebrew  enthusiasm,  the  result 
might  have  been  predicted. 

The  critics  of  Baur  insist  that  the  Xew  Testament  and 
the  developments  of  the  first  century  could  not  have  been 
created  out  of  Rabbinical  fancies.  Strauss  answers  this  by 
saying,  "persons  are  not  necessarily  individuals;  names 
are  often  used  to  represent  multitudes  and  nations;  such  a 
person  was  not  necessary  to  account  for  the  existence  of 
the  religion  afterward  called  Christianity;  the  personal 
Christ  had  faded  away;  he  had  disappeared  from  view  be- 
fore the  gospels  were  written.  The  conclusion  is  that  no 
clearly  defined  traces  of  the  person  of  Christ  remain  on  or 
beneath  the  surface  of  Christendom." 

Philo,  an  Alexandrian  Jew,  a  man  of  great  learning  and 
influence,  an  extensive  writer,  was  born  20  to  10  B.  C. 
This  great  sage  traveled  extensively  over  the  Roman  Em- 
pire; was  in  frequent  consultation  with  the  Emperor  and 
statesmen  of  Rome,  also  with  the  learned  Rabbis  of 
Judea  at  the  very  time  when,  it  is  said,  Christ  did  his 
preaching,  and  at  the  time  of  his  alleged  crucifixion;  in 
the  face  of  all  these  facts,  Philo  never  so  much  as  mentions 
such  a  man  as  Jesus  Christ  in  any  of  his  extensive  works. 


And  Christian  Mythology.  87 

According  to  the  gospel  stories,  Christ  at  twelve  year* 
of  age  confounded  the  wise  men  of  Jerusalem  with  his 
superior  knowledge,  then  was  lost  sight  of  until  thirty 
years  of  age,  when  for  two  or  three  years  he  traveled  over 
Judea,  often  visiting  Jerusalem,  and  everywhere  he  went 
was  surrounded  by  the  lame,  halt,  blind,  deaf,  and  other 
incurables,  all  of  whom  he  instantly  cured  by  a  look,  a 
word,  or  a  touch,  and  he  even  raised  the  dead. 

At  the  end  of  two  or  three  years,  he  was,  by  order  of  the 
Rabbis,  apprehended,  given  apublictrial,  condemned,  and 
put  to  death,  and  at  the  end  of  three  days  he  arose  from 
the  dead  and  thereafter  appeared  to  and  conversed  with 
great  numbers  of  people.  I  may  here  properly  ask,  Why 
did  not  some  one  or  all  of  these  people  who  saw  him  after 
his  resurrection  come  forward  and  in  some  manner  or 
form  vouch  for  these  wonderful  things?  That  not  one  of 
them  did  do  so  is  enough  to  stamp  the  gospel  stories  as 
untrue.  All  of  these  things,  according  to  the  gospel 
story,  took  place  in  and  around  Jerusalem,  a  city  fdled 
with  Jewish  priests  and  other  learned  men,  including 
Philo,  and  not  one  of  them  ever  heard  of  any  of  these 
wonderful  cures  or  even  of  the  existence  of  the  man 
Christ. 

Let  us  here  pause  and  ask  any  intelligent  man  or  wo- 
man whose  mind  is  not  entirely  obscured  by  religious 
superstition,  whether  he  or  sin-  can  believe  these  things 
Id,  in  fact,  have  taken  place  and  not  have  been  seen  or 
heard  of  by  any  one  of  the  learned  men?'  There  can  be  but 
one  answer:  Suppo  e  that  one-half  of  these  wonderful 
things  should  take  place  to-day,in  any  part  of  the  civilized 
world,  how  lo  '  !  it  be  before  every  intelligent  man 

and  woman  would  know  of,  and  be  talking  about  them? 
While  we  thus  pre  ent  the  e  points,  we  are  not  unmindful 


88  Commentaries  on  BebreiO 

of  the  fact  that  no  amount  of  evidence,  however  conclu- 
sive in  itself,  would  convince  the  bigoted  or  willfully 
ignorant  devotee  of  his  error.  He  would  be  like  the  Rev. 
McClintock,  who,  in  his  cyclopaedia,  after  reviewing  all  of 
the  critics  and  proving  beyond  question  that  Moses  did 
not  write  the  Pentateuch,  winds  up  by  saying,  that  he  pre- 
fers to  believe  that  Moses  did  write  the  books.  That  is, 
he  prefers  to  believe  what  he  knows  to  be  false,  rather 
than  believe  the  truth  when  it  does  not  accord  with  his 
preconceived  opinions — and  this  is  equally  true  with  a 
majority  of  the  devout. 

The  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  admits  that  Philo  never 
heard  of  Christ  or  of  the  Christians. 

If  such  a  man  as  Christ  had  then  lived  and  been  a  man 
of  any  note,  how  is  it  possible  that  he  could  have  so  com- 
pletely escaped  the  notice  of  Philo? 

The  Rev.  Robert  Taylor,  after  a  most  thorough  re- 
search of  every  known  document  concerning  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  first  century,  says  that  he  cannot  so  much  as 
find  an  allusion  to  such  a  man  as  Jesus  Christ. 

Where  were  the  numerous  Hebrew  and  Roman  writers 
during  this  period  that  they  never  so  much  as  heard  of 
Christ?  Could  the  man  have  lived  and  gained  any  noto- 
riety and  all  of  these  writers  not  have  heard  of  him?  It 
seems  quite  impossible. 

Among  his  biographers,  the  authors  of  the  four  gos- 
pels, two  of  them  do  not  mention  the  so-called  miraculous 
birth,  and  two  of  the  four  fail  to  notice  his  so-called  ascen- 
sion. 

Two  of  the  most  important  things  in  the  man's  history 
are  thus  overlooked  by  his  biographers. 

Kant  and  Spinoza,  in  speaking  of  this  matter,  say  that 
while  it  may  be  possible,  it  is  not  probable,  that  the  his- 


And  Christian   Mythology.  89 

torical  man  Christ  ever  lived;  that  Christianity  must  rest 
its  claim  on  an  ideal  being  in  the  form  of  man.  Plato  and 
Philo,  with  a  theoretical  religion  almost  identical  with 
Christianity,  rested  their  scheme  on  an  ideal  man. 

And  now  comes  the  Rev.  McClintock,  one  of  the  most 
bigoted  Christians,  admitting  the  truth  when  it  is  against 
Christianity  only  when  forced  to  do  so.  and,  in  this  case, 
seeing  no  escape  from  the  overwhelming  force  of  evi- 
dence, speaking  through  McClintock  &  Strong's  "Cyclo- 
paedia of  Biblical,  Theological,  and  Ecclesiastical  Litera- 
ture," says:  "In  the  conflict  between  Christianity  and 
reason,  Puritan  theology  holds  Christ  to  be  the  very  cen- 
ter of  the  system,  that  all  lies  in  the  question  whether  such 
a  person,  historically,  be  necessary.  Suppose  philosophy 
could  show  to  the  conclusion  of  all  thoughtful  men,  that 
the  person  of  a  Christ  is  a  self-contradiction  and  an  impos- 
sibility, there  would  no  longer  be  any  conflicl  between 
Christian  theology  and  philosophy,  b<  cause  with  the  per- 
son of  Christ,  would  be  abolished  the  Christian  theology. 
Christ  is  not,  strictly  speaking,  a  proper  name,  bul  a  des- 
ignation of  ofl  is  Christ,  or  rather  Jesus  the  Christ, 
is  a  mode  of  e  n  as,  John  the  Baptist,  or  bapti 
He  further  "In  the  prophetic  scriptures  we  find  this 
appellation  given  to  illustrate  the  i  e  who,  under 
various  designations,  is  so  oft<  ed  to 
appear  in  a  distanl  aj  deliverer.  Me 
t,  Anointed,  is,  then,  n  term  equivalent   b 

irt."     After   saj  in  he  .-elds. 

"'I  he  import  of  ■  nal  ion  n  to  Jesi 

Nazareth  may  now-  readily  be  appreciated."     lie  further 
"<  'hrist,  Messiah,  Anointed,  all  refer  to  one  and  tin- 
same  thin-,  meaning  the  revealer  of  divine  truth,  often 


90  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

represented  by  the  figure  of  the  lamb,  the  vine,  and  fish; 
these  words  have  no  reference  to  the  person." 

Thus  we  have  it  from  the  highest  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity that  Christ  is  a  myth,  the  personification  of  an  idea,  an 
allegorical  being,  a  shadow,  to  be  made  by  a  lamb,  a  vine, 
or  a  fish.  This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the  early  church 
fathers  placed  the  figure  of  a  lamb,  instead  of  a  man,  on 
the  cross. 

When  the  author  wrote  the  above  he  must  have  had 
Eusebius  in  his  mind,  who  said  sixteen  hundred  years  ago 
that  Christianity  was  no  new  thing,  that  it  was  as  old  as 
Abraham.  This  is  putting  Christianity  in  the  background 
by  one  who  has  by  the  church  been  properly  character- 
ized as  the  father  of  ecclesiastical  history. 

Athenagoras,  an  Athenian  Christian  writer,  in  his 
"Apology  to  the  Emperor  Marcus  Aurelius"  (176),  used 
Hebrew  scriptures  without  even  a  mention  of  such  a  man 
as  Christ  or  of  Christian  writings. 

Dr.  Reich  says  that  Hermos,  one  of  the  Christian 
fathers  of  the  first  century,  whose  writings  have  come 
down  to  us,  nowhere  alludes  to  such  a  man  as  Christ. 
This  writer,  Reich,  in  speaking  of  the  writings  of  the  first 
century  names  Strabo,  the  elder  Pliny,  Plutarch,  Arion, 
Dion,  Chrisostomos,  Seneca,  Quintius  Curtius,  Philo,  et 
al,  and  then  says,  there  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  writings 
of  any  of  these  men  as  much  as  an  allusion  to  such  a  man 
as  Christ,  or  to  Christianity.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
the  writings  of  these  men  cover  every  event  and  every 
man  of  the  slightest  importance  at  that  time.  Strabo 
wrote  seventeen  books.  His  twelfth  book  is  devoted  to 
Palestine  and  the  Hebrew  religion.  The  elder  Pliny's 
writings  are  a  complete  cyclopaedia  of  all  things  human 
and  divine.     Seneca's  works  treat  of  the  very  things  com- 


And   Christ  inn   Mythology.  91 

prised  in  Christian  ethics,  and  not  a  mention  by  any  one 
of  them  of  Christ  or  Christianity. 

The  struggle  is  now  fully  on  between  the  numerous 
critics  on  the  one  side,  the  most  of  whom  maintain  that 
Christ  is  a  myth,  and  the  more  learned  theologians  on  the 
other,who  are  divided  in  opinion.  The  one  class  is  with 
McClintock.  conceding  away  the  person  of  Christ  as  lost, 
but  at  the  same  time  attempting  to  save  the  creed  or  re- 
ligion; while  the  other  class,  like  the  former,  seeing  that 
the  four  gospels  have  been  proven  forgeries,  are  attempt 
ing  to  sustain  the  personal  existence  of  Christ  by  appeal- 
ing to  pagan  writers.  They  assert  that  Josephus,  Sueto- 
nius, Abgarus,  Tacitus,  Lucian,  Pliny,  and  Celsus,  in  their 
writings,  have  recognized  the  existence  of  the  personal 
Christ. 

While  this  contest  is  waging  hot  among  intelligent 
men,  the  priestlct,  like  all  babies,  is  vigorously  shaking 
his  rattle-box  in  the  ears  of  devout  old  women,  silly  girls, 
and  heedless  boys,  unmindful  and  ignorant  of  the  near 
approach  of  the  critical  cyclone  that  is  about  to  destroy 
him  and  his  Christian  d<  qmas. 

Let  us  see  if  any  one  of  these  seven  pagan  writers  has 
in  any  way  recognized  the  existence  of  (  hrist. 

The  statement  in  Josephus  has  long  since  been  recog- 
nized by  all  critic  t<>  be  .'i  clear  case  of  forgery,  made  in 
the  time  of  Eusebius,  and  probably  by  him,  as  he  was  well 
known  to  be  a  forger  of  Christian  writings. 

Lucian,  from  the  Euphrates,  ri  philosopher  <>f  note,  in 
his  "Philopatres,"  is,  by  forced  construction,    made    to 

speak  of  a  trinity  and  a  Galilean,  who.  lie  said,  by  way  of 

ridicule,  has  ascended  to  the  third  heaven,  where  he  is  en- 
gaged in  keeping  records  <>f  the  good  and  bad  actions  <»f 
men.     This  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  take  "ft  <>r 


92  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

burlesque  of  the  claims  of  the  Christians,  and  is  now  re- 
garded as  a  forgery,  so  says  the  Encyclopaedia  Britan- 
nica. 

As  to  Abgarus,  king  of  Edessa,  the  church  fathers  re- 
ported that  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Christ  to  come  and  cure 
him  of  a  malady,  to  which  Christ  wrote  back  that  he 
would  send  a  disciple;  that  Abgarus  turned  over  to  the 
church  a  picture  of  Christ,  the  letter  and  the  pocket-hand- 
kerchief used  by  Christ  while  on  the  cross  to  wipe  the 
sweat  off  his  face.  Eusebius  believed  this  foolish  story; 
but,  like  that  told  of  Lucian,  the  whole  affair  is  known  to 
be  spurious,  says  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

As  to  Suetonius,  in  his  life  of  Claudius,  he  makes  men- 
tion of  Chrestus,  the  leader  of  the  Chrestians,  a  well- 
known  pernicious  Jewish  sect  of  that  time. 

As  to  Pliny,  he  wrote  to  the  Emperor  Trajan  to  be  in- 
structed how  to  deal  with  the  Christians,  who,  he  said,  ad- 
hered to  an  extravagant  superstition  called  Christianity; 
but  in  no  way  or  manner  does  he  recognize  the  existence 
of  such  a  man  as  Christ. 

Celsus  wrote  two  books  in  the  second  century,  against 
Christianity,  in  which  he  ridicules  the  claims  of  the  Chris- 
tians, and  speaking  from  their  own  assertions  and  writings, 
calls  their  leader,  Panthera,  the  son  of  a  Roman  soldier. 
In  no  manner  does  this  writer  recognize  such  a  man  as 
Christ. 

The  question  here  naturally  suggests  itself:  Why  did 
the  fathers  of  the  church  commit  all  these  forgeries,  to 
prove  by  pagan  writers  the  existence  of  their  Christ,  if  he 
was  a  real  person  ?  The  answer  is  obvious :  he  was  a  myth, 
and  they  not  only  knew  it,  but  were  the  parties  who  cre- 
ated the  myth  with  intent  to  cheat  and  defraud  the  people, 
that  they,  the  priests,  might  keep  in  power. 


And  Christian  Jlythology.  93 

Tacitus,  on  whose  statement  the  Christians  place  their 
greatest  reliance,  belonged  to  the  second  century.  He 
speaks  of  the  Christians  in  the  most  contemptuous  man- 
ner, calls  them  the  followers  of  one  Christus,  who  was  put 
to  death  for  a  crime.  How  anyone  can  torture  this  into  a 
recognition  of  Christ,  it  is  difficult  to  see.  In  this  state- 
ment Tacitus  was  only  repeating,  or  reciting,  the  words 
of  the  Christians,  but  in  no  manner  asserting  or  stating 
that  there  ever  existed  such  a  man  as  Christ. 

The  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  after  recognizing  the  for- 
gery in  Josephus  says:  "Not  a  single  fact  about  Jesus  can 
be  learned  from  Jewish  writers  except  in  the  'Unexpur- 
gated  Edition  of  the  Talmud.'  where  some  twenty  refer- 
ences are  made  to  Christ,  in  which  he  is  called  Panthera." 
This  last  authority,  speaking  further  of  Christ,  says:  "Our 
Knowledge  (of  Christ)  derived  from  heathen  sources  is 
much  less  than  we  could  have  desired  and  expected.  The 
silence  of  contemporary  Gentile  and  Jewish  writers,  which 
would  he  otherwise  inexplicable,  finds  its  explanation  in 
•  anient." 

What  a  position!  Compelled  to  rely  on  forged  gospels 
and  bogus  Christian  writings  to  sustain  a  forlorn  hope. 

Having  exhausted  its  efforts  to  find  some  mention  of 
Christ  and  Christianity  by  any  one  of  the  numerous  pagan 
and  Jewish  writers  of  the  firsl  century,  the  church  turned 
its  attention  to  the  tombs  and  catacombs  of  Italy,  Gi 
and  Asia  Minor,  for  ibolic  evidence  of  its  hero 

For  this  purpose,  in  [5;  .  Marchi, 

and  Count  dc  Rossi  were  appointed.     After  much  time 
and  labor  these  commissionei  in  findinj 

emblems  the  dove,  the  anchor,  the  olive,  the  lamb,  the 
palm    leaf,    and    the    Greek     '  \..  O    (Alpha  and 

<~>megaL  At  the  time  of  these  finds.it  was  believed  that  thr 


94  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

emblems  referred  to  Christ,  but  none  of  them  bore  dates 
back  of  the  third  century.  Since  these  things  were  un- 
earthed, the  same  emblems  have  been  found  among  well- 
known  Jewish  catacombs,  bearing  dates  prior  to  the  al- 
leged birth  of  Christ.  Dr.  Reich,  after  referring  to  the 
writings  of  the  apostolic  fathers,  the  absence  of  any  men- 
tion of  Christ  by  Hebrew  and  pagan  writers  of  the  first 
century,  and  to  the  result  of  this  search  among  the  cata- 
combs, says  the  so-called  evidence  of  Christ  and  Chris- 
tianity rests  on  faith  alone,  without  any  historical  evi- 
dence whatever  in  its  support.  So  it  seems  that  naked, 
unsupported  faith  is  all  the  Christian  has  to  rely  on  as  a 
substitute  for  history,  science,  and  common  sense. 

The  Crucified  Man  (if  There  Was  One),  Who  Was  He, 
When  and  Where  Was  He  Born  ? 

The  Christians  have  been  taught  to  believe,  and  as  a 
matter  of  course  they  have  believed  what  their  priests 
have  taught  them,  that  the  crucified  being  was  a  man 
or  a  God,  depending  on  circumstances;  that  his  mother's 
name  was  Mary,  that  while  she  was  engaged  to  be  mar- 
ried to  a  man  by  the  name  of  Joseph  (whether  he  had  any 
other  name  the  records  are  silent)  a  white  dove  lighted  on 
her  head  and  by  its  touch  conception  took  place ;  that  this 
dove  was  a  symbol  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

In  the  apocryphal  Gospel  of  the  Birth  of  Mary,  chapter 
ii  to  viii,  we  are  told  that  both  Mary  and  her  mother  were 
the  offspring  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  In  chapter  vii  we  are 
told  that  the  Angel  Gabriel  called  on  Mary,  "filling  her 
chamber  with  a  prodigious  light,  and  in  a  most  courteous 
manner  saluting  her,  said:  'Hail  Mary,  hail  Mary,  virgin 
of  the  Lord,  the  Lord  is  with  you.'  But  the  virgin,  who 
had  before  been  well  acquainted  with  the  countenances 


And  Christian  Mythology.  95 

of  angels,  and  to  whom  such  a  light  from  heaven  was  no 
uncommon  thing,  was  neither  terrified  with  the  vision  of 
the  angel  nor  astonished  at  the  greatness  of  the  light,  but 
only  troubled  about  the  angel's  words,  meditating  as  to 
their  meaning;  the  angel  replied:  Tear  not,  Mary,  as 
though  I  intended  anything  inconsistent  with  your  chas- 
tity in  this  salutation.'  " 

The  angel  here  tells  Alary  that  she  is  a  favorite  with 
the  Lord,  and,  as  a  virgin,  she  is  to  have  a  son  who  is  to 
be  the  king  of  kings  and  the  Lord  of  Lords,  and  that  his 
reign  is  to  extend  to  the  ends  of  the  earth;  he  also  adds 
much  more  fine  talk.  Mary  takes  in  the  situation,  feels 
flattered,  "and  replies  not  as  though  she  were  unbelieving, 
but  willing  to  know  the  manner  of  it."  To  this  the  angel 
says  to  Mary:  "The  Holy  Ghost  will  overshadow  you 
without  the  heats  of  lust;"  "then  Mary  stretched  forth  her 
hands,  lifting  her  eyes  to  heaven,  said:  'Behold  the  hand- 
maid of  the  Lord;  let  it  be  unto  me  according  to  the 
word.'"  Xo  comments.  Chapter  v.  As  Mary  advances 
in  years,  her  parents  forsake  her.  The  high  priest  issues 
an  order  commanding  all  virgins  over  fourteen  years  of 
age  to  marry;  Mary  objects;  the  priest  calls  a  council;  the 
council  issues  a  summons  to  all  marriageable  men  to  ap 
pear,  staff  in  hand.  The  summons  is  obeyed.  Among 
numerous  others,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Joseph  puts  in  an 
appearance  Mary  is  the  only  young  lady  in  attendance. 
Ti  is  ordered  (probably  to  avoid  scandal  I  that   Mary  take 

•'.  husband.    Silence  prevailing,  a  dove  lights  on  Jo  ■ 
.  the  die  is  cast;  Joseph  musl  marry  the  girl;  he  ob 
the  1 1  tuncil  i  >f  entrapping  him ;  plead  -  his 

old    age     and    large     family    of    children    (being    a 
iwer)  and  ■  th  of  Mai  declared 

out  of  order,  po<  'r  |o  i  ph  it  'hen  and  th<  re  forced  into  be- 


96  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

irothmcnt,  after  which  Mary  and  Joseph  separate.  At 
tic  end  of  four  months  Joseph  is  called  on  to  fulfil  his  en- 
gagement; Mary  is  called  in;  Joseph  does  not  like  the 
looks  of  things,  declares  he  has  been  deceived,  accuses 
Mary  of  improper  conduct,  and  threatens  to  break  the 
engagement.  Knowing  the  facts,  Mary  does  not  insist 
on  the  marriage.  At  this  juncture  the  angel  puts  in  an 
appearance,  takes  Joseph  to  one  side,  tells  him  that 
Mary  is  all  right  and  that  the  heir  apparent  is  the  son  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  destined  to  rule  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  Joseph,  being  a  very  religious  man,  not  quite  see- 
ing the  point,  and  feeling  somewhat  flattered  at  the  pros- 
pect of  having  a  heavenly  king  for  an  adopted  son,  enters 
into  the  marriage ;  the  ceremony  being  over,  the  bride  and 
groom  return  to  their  separate  abodes.  In  a  very  short 
time  thereafter  they  meet  and  journey  to  Bethlehem, 
where,  in  a  cave,  attended  by  a  midwife,  Mary  gives  birth 
to  the  God  of  the  Christians,  who  after  being  put  into  dia- 
pers, and  all  is  well,  is  carried  down  into  Egypt  in  the  arms 
of  his  mother.  The  rest  of  the  story  will  be  told  in  our 
treatise  on  the  apocryphal  gospels. 

We  are  also  told  that  this  child's  name  was  Jesus 
Christ;  that  his  mother  and  Joseph  resided  at  Nazareth, 
but  that  in  order  to  fulfil  a  prophecy  he  had  to  be  born  in 
Bethlehem.  Now,  as  Bethlehem  was  a  long  distance  from 
Nazareth,  how  did  the  parents,  or,  at  least,  how  did  Joseph 
and  Mary,  come  to  go  there?  The  fathers  of  the  church 
got  up  the  story  that  they  went  there  to  pay  taxes,  and 
while  there  the  child  was  born.  The  people  of  Judea  had 
not  been  taxed,  and  we  are  told  that  this  was  the  first  tax, 
and  that  it  was  levied  by  Governor  Quirinus.  But  in 
making  up  this  story  the  chroniclers  were  not  acquainted 
v>  ith  the  fact  that  Quirinus  was  not  governor  of  that  prov- 


And  Christian  Jlytholog/j.  97 

ince  until  nine  years  after  the  time  finally  fixed  by  the 
church  as  the  date  of  their  hero's  birth.  But  what  signified 
nine  years?  There  was  a  prophecy  to  be  fulfilled,  and 
time  cuts  no  figure  in  such  a  case;  the  end  justified  the 
means,  the  prophecy  had  to  be  fulfilled  even  if  it  re- 
quired a  thousand  falsehoods  to  accomplish  the  de- 
sired end.  There  was  another  prophecy  to  be  fulfilled, 
the  Messiah  must  come  of  the  House  of  David,  that  is, 
he  must  be  a  lineal  descendant  of  King  David,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  Messiah  is  to  be  the  son  of  Jehovah.  This 
mixed  affair  presented  a  complicated  problem,  but  the 
church  fathers  were  equal  to  the  task,  as  one  will  learn  by 
studying  the  proceedings  of  the  ecclesiastical  councils. 

Thus  far  we  have  assumed  that  the  crucified  man  was 
the  son  of  Joseph,  but  we  must  remember  that  this  point 
is  in  dispute;  probably  he  was  filius  nullius. 

In  the  first  edition  of  the  Talmud,  the  hero  of  the 
Christians  is  referred  to  about  twenty  times,  and  each  time 
he  is  called  the  son  of  Panthera  (Encyclopaedia  Britan- 
• 

Celsus,  the  Roman  historian,  in  his  comments  on 
Christianity,  says  that  Mary  was  divorced  from  Joseph, 
and  while  wandering  aboul  Judea  fell  in  love  with  a  Ro- 
man soldier  named  Panthera,  who  became  tin-  father  of 

Christ.     Bui  of  tl  all  have  more  t<>  say  hereafter. 

When  the  crucified  man  (if  there  was  one)  was  born,  and 
when  he  died,  has  never  been  ascertained.    The  fathers  of 

the  church  tried  for  six    hundred  years  to  find  OUt,  and 

then  arbitrarily  fixed  the  date  of  his  birth. 

;lt  the  authi  -  to  Christ's  pedigrei . 

Julius  Africam  his  friends,  the  church  fathi 

it  up  to  suit  their  purposes,  and  arbitraril)  c<  mnccted  him 

with  the   Hon  .  atld  how  did  thev  do  it" 


98  Commentaries  vn  Hebrew 

They  ran  the  pedigree  both  ways,  but  failed  to  make  the 
ends  meet. 

According  to  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew  it  took  only 
twenty-eight  generations  to  run  from  David  down 
through  Joseph  to  Christ,  while  according  to  third  Luke, 
it  required  forty-three  generations  to  run  from  Christ 
through  Joseph  up  to  David,  and  in  the  two  genealogies 
the  ancestral  names  were  entirely  different. 

This  discrepancy  can  be  accounted  for  only  on  the 
ground  that  the  two  authors,  in  fabricating  their  stories, 
did  not  compare  notes  in  chasing  the  myth,  or  on  the 
hypothesis  that  less  time  is  consumed  in  running  down 
stream  than  in  pulling  up  against  the  current. 

The  Time  When  the  Hero  was  Born  Being  Unknown, 
It  Was  Arbitrarily  Fixed. 

The  writer  in  Chambers'  Encyclopaedia  tells  us  that  the 
day  and  month  and  even  the  year  of  Christ's  birth,  and 
the  time  of  his  death,  were  absolutely  unknown  to  the 
fathers  of  the  church;  that  the  date  of  his  birth  now  fixed, 
December  25th,  in  the  year  of  Rome  752,  cannot  be 
traced  back  of  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century;  that  the 
reckoning  of  dates  from  his  birth  did  not  begin  until  the 
sixth  century,  and  that  the  date  of  his  death  cannot  be 
determined. 

The  writer  in  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  says :  "It  must 
be  admitted  that  we  cannot  determine  the  exact  year  of 
Christ's  birth;  that  about  4  B.  C.  is,  by  most  critics,  fixed 
as  probably  about  the  time." 

Renan  informs  us  that,  among  the  early  fathers  and 
others  of  the  church  who  had  made  this  matter  a  special 
study,  there  were  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  different 
opinions  as  to  even  the  year  in  which  Christ  was  born. 


And  Christian  Mythology.  99 

John  F.  Blake,  in  his  "History  of  the  Heavens,"  says: 
"The  early  Christians  being  indifferent  as  to  the  time  of 
the  birth  of  Christ,  it  remained  for  a  monk  by  the  name 
of  Uenys,  or  Dionysius  Exiguus,  to  fix  the  date  of  his 
birth.  This  monk  lived  in  obscurity  at  Rome  about  580 
A.  C.  (Anno  Christi);  his  nativity  being  unknown,  he  was 
called  a  Scythian,  an  appellation  applied  by  the  Romans 
to  the  barbarians  of  the  extreme  north." 

This  obscure  monk  was  the  first  who  made  the  attempt 
by  chronological  calculations  to  discover  the  year  of  the 
birth  of  Christ.  The  era  fixed  by  Dionysius  was  not 
adopted  until  the  close  of  the  eighth  century,  when 
the  Venerable  Bede  induced  the  church  to  accept 
it ;  but  the  church  has  since  repudiated  this  adoption.  The 
time  when  the  year  was  to  commence  was  not  agreed 
upon  until  a  later  date;  even  the  date  as  we  now  have  it 
was  not  agreed  to  without  a  struggle,  for  several  of  the 
bishops  boldly  asserted  that  there  was  no  evidence  what- 
ever as  to  the  time  of  the  birth  or  death  of  Christ,  and  to 
fix  a  date  in  the  absence  of  some  evidence  was  to  arbi- 
trarily make  a  date  for  the  benefit  of  the  church. 

When  these  controversies  were  at  white  heat  as  to 
Christ's  birth, the  three  Christian  sects, known  as  l  )ocetes, 
Marcionites,  and  Marchacans,  boldly  denied  the  gospel 
of  the  conception,  birth,  and  the  thirty  years  of 
Christ's  life,  and  asserted  thai  he  first  appeared,  fully  nia 
tured,  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  created  by  omnipotence 
("Gibbon  1;  and,  as  to  Mar;. ,  <  Ihrist's  alleged  mother,  Rev. 
II.  H.  Milman,  in  hia  notes  to  Gibboi  thai  the 

Christians  of  the  first  four  centuries  were  ignoranl  of  the 
time  of  the  birth  and  death  of  Mary,  and  thai  the  tradition 
r>f  Ephesus,  of  her  death  and  burial,  was  affirmed  by  de 
cree  of  council.    Why  did  nol  this  reverend  gentleman 


100  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

tell  us  the  whole  truth,  and  say  that  the  decree  was  ob- 
tained by  fraud,  instead  of  suppressing  this  important 
fact?  Apply  the  maxim,  "Supprcssio  veri  suggestio 
falsi."  The  answer,  in  line  with  his  profession,  is  not  to 
tell  the  truth  when  it  hurts  the  church.  Gibbon  comes  to 
the  rescue,  and  tells  us  that  Alemnon,  bishop  of  Ephesus, 
by  the  purchase  of  thirty  or  forty  episcopal  votes  and  by 
clamor  and  force  at  the  council  of  Ephesus,  procured  a 
decree  sustaining  this  tradition. 

Had  Christ  any  Education  ? 

In  the  age  when,  and  the  country  where,  Christ  was 
believed  to  have  been  born,  a  liberal  education  was  only 
within  the  reach  of  the  wealthy  class  of  people.  There 
were  no  schools  in  the  small  towns,  the  poor  had  not  the 
means  nor  the  opportunity  to  acquire  even  the  rudiments 
of  an  education,  and  if  he,  Christ,  had  been  a  man  of  edu- 
cation he  would  not  have  been  the  associate  and  compan- 
ion of  common,  ignorant  laborers,  or  have  selected  such 
men  as  apostles.  These  things,  taken  in  connection  with 
the  fact  that  he  left  no  writings  at  his  death,  not  even  so 
much  as  his  signature,  may  in  all  fairness  be  taken  as 
presumptive  evidence  that  he  was  unable  to  write;  and  if 
unable  to  write,  then  we  may  presume  that  he  could  not 
read.  Neither  could  Mohammed  read  or  write,  but  this 
fact  did  not  prevent  him  from  establishing  a  system  of 
religion  which  has  spread  over  large  portions  of  Asia, 
Africa,  and  Europe,  and  at  one  time  nearly  supplanted 
Christianity  everywhere. 

With  possibly  two  exceptions,  all  the  founders  of  relig- 
ions were  ignorant  men,  being  unable  to  read  or  write. 


And  Christian  Mythology.  101 

More  Messiah's  than  One. 

There  were  in  Judea  a  number  of  persons  claiming  to  be 
the  Messiah,  but  all  except  Chris1"  were  suppressed  before 
the  germ  had  sufficiently  matured  to  reproduce  and  per- 
petuate itself.  Christ  was  a  Jew,  but  who  was  his  father 
is  a  matter  of  serious  doubt.  Celsus,  as  will  be  shown 
more  fully  hereafter,  says  that  Christ  was  the  son  of  a 
Roman  soldier;  but  not  a  Roman  historian  or  chronicler 
ever  heard  of  the  man  until  a  century  after  hi^  al- 
leged death.  Had  he  been  a  person  of  any  note  or  stand- 
ing, or  had  he  said  or  done  any  unusual  thing,  a  notice  of 
him  could  not  have  escaped  the  numerous  Hebrew  and 
Roman  writers  of  his  time,  nor  would  the  church  fathers 
have  failed  to  learn  when  and  where  he  was  born  and 
when  he  died.  The  fact  that  they  did  not  know  and  have 
never  been  able  to  find  out,  but  after  centuries  were  com- 
pelled to  arbitrarily  fix  dates  for  his  birth  and  death, 
would  under  ordinary  circumstances  raise  a  strong  pre- 
sumption  that  he  never  had  other  than  a  mythical  exist- 
ence. 

to  tin-  foolish  story  <ff  his  divine  parentage,  there 
seem  to  have  been  many  precedents,  from  some  or  all  of 
which  the  story  U1  lly  had  its  origin. 

Th'  end  concerning  the  birth  of  Plato  is  in 

scntials  the  saim  one  made  for  Christ,  and 

.  which  the  Christ  version  was  probably  copied;  or  it 
may  have  n  from  the  life  of  Apollonius. 

I  'lato  was  born  of  a  ; 
virgin  named  Peri<  tione,  who  had  suffered  an  immai  i 
conception  at  the  touch  of  the  God  Apollo,  and  Apollo 
had  declared  to  Ariston,  to  whom     Perictione  was  be 
trothed,  the  parentage  of  the  child.    The  Platonic  legend 


102  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

antedates  the  Christian  one  four  hundred  years,  and  was 
taught  and  believed  at  the  time  of  Christ. 

The  next  story,  closely  allied  to  this,  but  much  older, 
comes  from  China,  where  tradition  says  that  Buddha  was 
born  of  a  virgin  amid  great  miracles ;  that  in  after  life  he 
was  tempted  by  an  evil  spirit  called  Mara,  which  tempta- 
tion he  defied. 

Several  like  cases  have  been  found.  In  fact,  all  the 
great  pagan  religions  have  told  similar  stories,  some  of 
which,  in  brief,  are  hereinafter  given  under  other  head- 
ings. 

If  the  early  fathers,  in  copying  the  Platonic  legend, 
filled  the  vacuum  with  a  myth,  it  was  in  keeping  with  their 
general  conduct.  Christ,  if  a  real  being,  was  a  Jew,  and 
preached  Jewish  doctrines ;  he  did  not  even  dream  of  es- 
tablishing a  new  religion.  Timid  at  first,  after  getting  the 
aid  of  John  he  became  more  bold,  finally  conceived  the 
idea  that  he  was  the  Messiah,  proclaimed  himself  as  such 
and  as  king  of  the  Jews. 

The  Jews  ridiculed  his  claim,  nor  was  it  until  after  he 
had  threatened  to  demolish  the  temple  of  Jerusalem  that 
ti  ey  commenced  proceedings'to  suppress  him  by  threat- 
ening him  with  prosecution.  He  had  now  carried  matters 
too  far  to  recant,  so  he  boldly  defied  the  authorities ;  there 
was  nothing  for  them  to  do  but  arrest  and  try  him;  he 
knew  that  an  arrest  and  trial  meant  death,  so  he  braced 
himself  up  for  the  result. 

Let  us  go  back  to  the  gospel  story  and  follow  him  from  the 
time  when  he  commenced  to  preach  in  his  own  little  town, 
where  he  soon  learned  to  his  chagrin  and  mortification 
that  a  prophet  in  his  own  country  has  no  honor,  for  the 
people  one  and  all  derided  him,  reminded  him  of  his  mean 
birth  and  calling,  and  advised  him  to  continue  making 


And  Christian  Mythology.  103 

piows  and  ox-yokes.  Finding  no  support  at  home,  he 
went  to  Capernaum,  a  little  town  on  the  shore  of  the  Sea 
of  Galilee,  where  he  commenced  to  discourse.  His 
mother  and  family  followed  him.  The  people  at  once  rid- 
iculed him,  and  when  he  persisted  in  his  preaching,  a  mob 
gathered  and  dragged  him  out  of  town.  John  the  Baptist 
was  killed  about  this  time,  and  the  people  of  Galilee  had 
taken  such  decided  action  against  the  new  prophet  that  he 
and  his  disciples  fled  to  the  desert  of  Bethsaida,  where  he 
commenced  to  harangue  in  the  small  settlements.  There 
he  made  a  few  converts  among  the  common,  ignorant 
people,  but  the  hostility  of  the  better  class  was  so  mani- 
fest against  him  that  his  mother  and  family  deemed  his 
life  in  danger.  They  here  took  a  decided  stand  against 
him,  excused  him  to  the  people  on  the  ground  of  insanity, 
and  insisted  on  his  flight.  So  he  fled  and  kept  himself 
concealed  for  a  time,  and  then  occasionally  went  back  to 
Galilee.  From  there  he  went  to  Tyre  and  Sidon,  where  he 
was  threatened  with  violence;  then  he  fled  to  parts  un- 
known, finally  sailed  for  Magdala,  thence  went  to  Caesa- 
and  Philippi,  where  the  people  demanded  the  evi- 
dence of  his  Messiahship.  Being  unable  to  furnish  such 
evidence,  lie  took  his  departure  for  ITcrmon;  from  here 
he  sought  the  most  secluded  retreats,  after  which  he 
turned  up  at  Jerusalem.  He  is  banished  from  here,  and 
back  to  Galilee.  Finding  no  shelter  there,  In-  -tarts 
f<T  Engannim.  Being  warned  against  that  place,  he 
changes  his  c<  '  to  Jerusalem,  where  he 

is  threatened  with  arrest.  1  [e  l<  aves  and  I  Iphraim, 

from  there  lie  j^oes  back  io  Jerusalem,  and  then  t"  Beth- 
any. Finding  no  pla  t,  lil  e  the  bird  oul  <>f  the 
ark,  and  being  in  love  with  his  ov  n  pn  a<  hing  and  unable 
OT  unwilling  to  restrain  himself,  he  ddics  all  opposition 


104  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

and  again  returns  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  finds  prepara- 
tion for  his  arrest.  He  now  goes  to  Mount  Olives,  where 
he  secretes  himself,  but  is  finally  arrested.  Seeing  that 
their  martyr  has  not  the  power  to  protect  himself,  his  dis- 
ciples all  flee,  he  is  tried,  condemned,  and  nailed  to  the 
cross,  the  same  as  all  others  condemned  to  death.  His 
last  words  to  his  disciples  were  to  take  care  of  his  mother. 

This  statement  as  to  his  wanderings  finds  its  support 
only  in  the  writings  of  his  chroniclers,  the  truth  of  which 
lacks  proper  vouchers. 

Had  the  subsequent  decree  of  the  Council  of  Nice,  ad- 
judging him  to  be  one  of  the  Gods,  been  in  existence  dur- 
ing these  wanderings,  the  man  might,  by  virtue  of  his 
own  pretended  power,  have  saved  himself  from  these 
insults  and  final  death. 

The  fact  that  in  all  of  Christ's  wanderings  over  Judea, 
the  people  had  but  one  opinion  concerning  him  (except  a 
few  ignorant  followers),  that  opinion  being  that  he  was 
but  an  ordinary  man,  slightly  insane  on  religion,  would 
under  ordinary  circumstances  have  been  sufficient  evi- 
dence to  settle  his  status. 

It  remained  for  the  bishops  at  the  council  of  Nice,  more 
than  three  hundred  years  thereafter,  to  reverse  the  opinion 
cf  the  people  of  a  whole  province,  who  tried  the  man  while 
ak've. 

The  Twenty  Historical  Messiahs. 

As  we  are  now  engaged  in  the  discussion  of  the  Mes- 
siah problem,  it  will  be  first  in  order  to  look  over  the  field 
and  see  how  many  men  have,  since  the  advent  of  the  al- 
leged Christ,  appeared  and  claimed  to  be  the  true  Mes- 
siah. 

Messiah,  as  defined  in  the  Hebrew  scriptures,  is  an  ideal 


And  Christian  Mythology.  105 

king,  the  king  who  would  deliver  the  people  of  Israel  from 
bondage.  '"The  Lnrist"  is  nothing  more  than  a  transla- 
tion of  "the  Messiah;*'  it  is  collective  Israel,  or  the  twelve 
tribes,  which  appear  under  the  symbol  of  the  son  of  man. 

The  Hebrew  prophecy,  as  understood  by  the  Phari- 
sees, referred  to  a  person;  hence  the  great  number  of  men 
claiming  to  be  the  deliverer. 

We  here  give  a  list  of  twenty  of  the  more  prominent 
ones.  After  the  time  of  the  mythical  Christ,  Simon  was  the 
first  of  note  who  proclaimed  himself  the  king  and  long- 
lnoked-for  Messiah.  He  was  so  received  by  the  Jews  of 
Judea,  and  by  them  acknowledged  the  Messiah;  he  set  up 
a  government,  coined  money  in  his  own  name,  and  raised 
a  large  army  to  oppose  the  Roman  Emperor.  Hadrian 
sent  an  army  against  him;  on  its  approach,  Simon  took 
refuge  in  the  town  of  Dither,  where  he  was  besieged, 
routed,  and  killed. 

It  is  said  by  an  able  historian  that  the  Jews  lost  from 
■  i  six  hundred  thousand  men  in  their  efforts  to  sustain 
this  Messiah. 

During  the  reign  of  Theodosius,  434  A.  C.  one  Moses 

nsis  claimed  t"  be  a  second  Moses,  proclaimed  him- 

iah,  told  the  Jews  of  Crete  to  follow  him.  and 

that  he  would  divide  the  waters  of  the  sea  For  their  safe 

passage  from  the  land  of  bondage.     Thej  left  all  behind 

their,  and  flocked  to  bis  standard  in  great  numbers;  he 

them  to  a  rugged  bluff  ■  From 

which  thousands  of  men,  women,  and  children  re 

headlong  into  the  writers  and  were  drowned,  at  the  sight 

of  which  tl  iah  fled. 

In  the  reign  of  Justin,   520    \.    ' '..   another  Messiah, 
d  Dunaan,  calling  himself  the  son  of  Moses,  suc- 
ceeded in  procuring  a  large  Following,  collected  his  ad- 


106  Commentaries  on  HebreiO 

herents,  and  with  them  entered  a  small  town  in  Arabia 
Felix,  where  he  was  captured  and  put  to  death. 

In  529  A.  C.  the  Jews  and  Samaritans  rebelled  against 
the  Emperor  Justin  and  set  up  as  their  Messiah  one 
Julian.  The  emperor  sent  an  army,  which  slaughtered 
great  numbers  of  Jews,  took  the  Messiah  prisoner,  and 
put  him  to  death. 

In  721  A.  C.  a  man  by  the  name  of  Jerenus  arose  in 
Spain,  proclaimed  himself  the  true  Messiah,  and  for  a  time 
had  a  great  number  of  followers. 

In  1 138  a  Persian  Jew  proclaimed  himself  the  true  Mes- 
siah, succeeded  in  getting  around  himself  a  vast  army,  and 
in  his  struggle  with  the  government  was  put  to  death,  and 
his  followers  were  treated  with  great  cruelty. 

In  1 157  another  Messiah  appeared  in  Cordova,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  converting  most  of  the  common  people,  but  was 
condemned  by  the  better  class. 

In  1 167  a  man  by  the  name  of  David  Alrui  arose  in  the 
kingdom  of  Fez,  proclaiming  himself  the  Messiah,  and 
succeeded  in  getting  a  large  following. 

In  the  same  year  an  Arabian  Messiah  appeared  and  pre- 
tended to  work  miracles.  He  was  arrested  and  brought 
before  the  king,  who  questioned  him  concerning  his  mis- 
sion. He  answered  he  was  sent  by  God;  the  king  asked 
for  a  sign ;  the  Messiah  said,  "Cut  off  my  head  and  see  me 
return  to  life  again."  The  king  took  him  at  his  word,  but 
life  failed  to  return. 

Shortly  after  this  a  Jew  beyond  the  Euphrates  pro- 
claimed himself  the  Messiah,  and  drew  vast  multitudes  of 
people  about  him.    He,  like  the  others,  was  put  to  death. 

In  1 174  another  Messiah  appeared  in  Persia.  He,  like 
the  others,  had  a  great  following  of  the  common,  ignorant 
people. 


And   Christian  Mythology.  107 

Jn  1 176  David  Almaner  proclaimed  himself  the  true 
Messiah,  in  Moravia.  He  made  himself  visible  and  in- 
visible at  will.  After  securing  many  followers,  he  was  ar- 
rested and  put  to  death. 

In  1 199  a  famous  magician  and  a  man  of  great  learning, 
by  the  name  of  David  El  David,  arose  in  Persia,  pro- 
claimed himself  the  long-looked-for  Messiah,  raised  an 
army,  was  taken  prisoner,  made  his  escape,  was  retaken, 
and  put  to  death.  Great  numbers  of  the  followers  of 
this  Savior  shared  the  fate  of  their  Messiah. 

In  1502  a  German  rabbi  of  Venice,  named  Ascher,  pro- 
claimed himself  Messiah,  and  attained  quite  a  following 
in  Europe. 

About  this  time  one  David  Reubeni  proclaimed  himself 
Messiah  in  Portugal.  He  claimed  to  have  come  from 
India,  with  the  necessary  credentials  from  heaven;  by 
this  he  gained  a  large  support  among  the  better  class. 

In  161 5  another  Messiah  appeared  in  India,  where  he 
gained  considerable  following  among  the  Portuguese 
Jews. 

In  1624  a  Messiah  appeared  in  the  Low  Countries,  de- 
clared himself  of  the  house  of  David,  promised  to  destroy 
Rome  and  the  anti-Christ  kingdom  of  Turkey. 

In  [666  "Hi  Sabbathai  Zeb,  of  Aleppo,  proclaimed  him- 
self Messiali  and  king  of  the  twelve  tribes  <>f  Israel.  A  - 
this  man  was  the  greatest  of  all  the  Messiahs,  lie  deserves 
a  more  extensive  notice.  Greal  multitudes  flocked  to  his 
standard  from  Arabia,  and  other  parts  of  Asia,  who  be- 
lieved him  to  be  the  king  of  heaven  and  earth,  who  had 
come  to  deliver  the  Hebrew  people  from  sin  and  death. 
Being  threatened  by  the  Mohammedan  powers  lie  gave 
up  his  claim,  joined  the  followers  of  the  Prophet,  was 
given  the  name  of  Effendi.  and  appointed  to  an  office. 


108  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

History  informs  us  that  this  man  Sabbathai  Zeb  founded 
a  considerable  sect,  which  is  still  in  existence;  that  he  was 
a  Jew,  and  that  when  a  child  he  was  sent  to  the  rabbinical 
school,  where  he  rapidly  learned  all  the  sacred  lore  of  the 
times.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  studied  the  Cabala,  and  at 
the  age  of  eighteen  attained  the  title  of  sage,  delivered  lect- 
ures, and  expounded  divine  law.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
four  he  revealed  to  his  disciples  that  he  was  the  Messiah, 
the  son  of  David,  the  true  redeemer.  Hearing  of  this,  the 
sages  of  Smyrna  notified  him  that  he  had  incurred  the 
penalty  of  death  by  violating  the  sacred  law,  whereupon 
he  fled  to  Salonica,  where  he  again  set  up  his  claim.  Be- 
ing there  threatened,  he  fled,  first  to  Athens,  and  from 
there  to  the  Morea.  Finding  no  friends  there,  he  went  to 
Alexandria,  to  Cairo,  and  thence  to  Jerusalem,  where  he 
remained  several  years  teaching  the  Cabala,  proclaiming 
himself  Messiah,  and  converting  thousands  of  people.  So 
numerous  were  his  followers  in  most  places  where  he 
preached,  that  business  was  suspended,  Jews  sacrificed 
their  property,  and  made  ready  to  follow  their  redeemer 
to  Jerusalem,  the  land  of  promise.  Even  the  consuls  re- 
ceived orders  to  inquire  into  this  extraordinary  move- 
ment. 

In  1682  a  German  rabbi,  named  Mordacia,  set  up  a 
claim  in  Italy  to  the  Messiahship,  and,  after  receiving 
quite  a  following,  fled  to  Poland  to  save  his  life. 

About  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  Polish 
Jew  proclaimed  himself  the  Messiah,  and  made  thousands 
of  converts.  His  influence  was  so  great  that  at  his  death 
four  thousand  persons  attended  his  funeral. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  ignorance  and  religion  have 
ever  been  fellow-travelers.  This  number  of  Messiahs 
does  not  exhaust  the  list  of  the  historical  anointed  who 


And  Christian  Mythology.  109 

have  appeared  to  fulfil  prophecy — nor  does  it  include  the 
Messiah  of  the  Christians,  because  the  above  list  is  taken 
from  profane,  or,  more  properly  speaking,  civil  history, 
of  which  real  men  and  real  things  only  are  the  subjects, 
while  sacred  history,  which  tells  us  of  the  Christian  Mes- 
siah, deals  in  shadows,  legends,  <md  myths. 

If,  as  the  Christians  claim,  their  Christ  was  the  great- 
est and  most  wonderful  of  all  the  Messiahs,  why  did  he 
not  find  a  place  in  profane  or  civil  history,  where  we  have 
full  accounts  of  the  lesser  Saviors?  What  does  all  this 
mean?  It  certainly  has  a  meaning,  and  a  forcible  one, 
too.  Does  it  mean  that  the  priesthood  of  Rome  bor- 
rowed a  pagan  religion,  and  a  century  thereafter  created 
out  of  nothing  a  Messianic  Christ,  as  a  rallying-point 
around  which  to  gather  the  ignorant  and  superstitious 
multitude,  to  be  used  by  the  Church  of  Rome  for  its  ag- 
grandizement, power,  and  dominion  over  the  peoples 
and  nations  of  the  earth?  How  well  they  have  suc- 
ceeded in  this,  let  the  history  of  the  Dark  Ages  tell  the 
tale,  and  count  the  millions  of  innocent  men,  women,  and 
children  who  have  been  murdered  by  orders  from  the 
heads  of  the  church. 

Further  consideration  of  this  branch  of  the  subjeel  will 
he  had  when  we  come  to  examine  the  writings  concerning 
Chri 

The   Four  Gospels  and   Other   Christian   Writings  as 
Legends  and  Forgeries. 

The  four  gospels  contain  all  the  evidence  the  church 
has  of  th(  I  ( 'hrisl  and  of  his  saj  ings  and  do- 

ings, in  other  wools,   his  complete   biography.       I 
church  must  in  the  future,  as  it  has  in  the  i  d  on 

these  gos pels  for  its  religion  and  it-  founder;  if  these 


110  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

fail,  all  to  the  church  is  lost.  It  has  ever  been  claimed  by 
the  church  that  these  gospels  were  written  during  the 
apostolic  age,  and  by  the  four  men  to  whom  they  are 
ascribed. 

While  some  few  of  the  leaders  of  the  church  still  insist 
or  claim  that  some  of  the  matters  contained  in  our  present 
gospels  were  reduced  to  writing  near  the  close  of  the  first 
century,  all  ecclesiastical  historians  of  to-day  admit  that 
the  gospels  as  we  have  them  did  not  exist  earlier  than  the 
first  half  of  the  fourth  century;  and,  with  a  few  excep- 
tions, all  deny  the  existence  of  any  writings  whatever  con- 
cerning the  Christ,  his  sayings  or  doings,  during  the  first 
century.  The  church  being  driven  to  the  wall  in  search 
of  Christian  writings  of  the  first  century,  finally  falls  back 
on  the  fourteen,  so  called,  epistles  of  Paul,  claiming  that 
they  must  have  been  written  in  the  first  century,  it  being 
asserted  by  the  church  that  Paul  was  born  about  10  A.  C. 
But  let  it  be  remembered  that  ten  of  the  fourteen  so- 
called  epistles  of  Paul  have  been,  by  the  most  sagacious 
critics  of  Germany  and  France,  conceded  to  be  spurious 
(forgeries). 

The  real  facts  are  that  we  have  no  knowledge  as  to  the 
time  of  the  birth  of  Paul,  and  as  to  the  date  of  any  alleged 
act  of  his  the  world  of  to-day  is  in  blissful  ignorance. 
See  Renan's  Paul,  Professor  White's  "Warfare  of  Re- 
ligion and  Science,"  Dr.  Reich's  "History  of  Civiliza- 
tion," the  American  Cyclopaedia,  and  other  works. 

It  may  be  safely  affirmed  that  the  weight  of  evidence  is 
overwhelming,  that  not  one  scratch  concerning  Christ,  or 
Christianity,  was  written  for  more  than  a  hundred  years 
after  the  alleged  time  of  his  death. 

It  is  on  what  Christ  is  supposed  to  have  said  in  his 
preachings  that  the  great  church  has  been  founded.     As 


And  Christian  Mythology.  Ill 

to  what  his  discourses  were  about,  and  what  he  said, 
much  has  been  written  and  told,  but  very  little,  or  nothing 
whatever,  is  known.  During  the  first  century  after 
his  death,  his  disciples  and  followers  were  principally  con- 
cerned in  getting  ready  for  his  second  coming,  which  was 
to  be  the  end  of  the  world  and  the  final  winding-up  of  all 
human  affairs;  they  were  too  busy  and  too  much  en- 
grossed in  this  all-important  matter  to  think  or  care  to 
preserve  the  sayings  of  their  master,  or  to  think  of  estab- 
lishing a  new  religion.  The  whole  effort  of  his  disciples 
and  followers  consisted  in  oral  preachings  and  declama- 
tions. 

Let  a  dozen  intelligent  men  listen  to  a  discussion,  and 
then  allow  even  five  or  ten  years  to  elapse,  and  no  two 
will  agree,  even  as  to  the  substance  of  the  discussion.  Let 
one  hundred  years  elapse  and  then  take  the  statements 
third-  and  fourth-handed,  and  from  the  most  ignorant 
sources,  and  what  would  such  evidence  be  worth?  No 
court  of  justice  would  give  it  any  weight  whatever.  Now 
this  is  the  evidence,  and  the  only  evidence,  on  which  the 
church  rests  and  asks  mankind  to  believe  what  Christ  said 
in  his  one,  two,  or  three  years'  preaching.  The  proposi- 
tion is  simply  ridiculous.  It  may  be  that,  by  the  merest 
chance,  the  substance  of  some  of  the  sayings  of  the  man 
has  come  down  to  us.  If  so,  this  is  all  that  can  in  fair- 
ness be  expected.  Most  of  the  persons  who  arc  supposed 
to  be  contemporaries  of  Christ,  and  who  heard  him  talk, 
were  men  of  no  education,  rude  ;m<!  uncultivated. 

The  Gospels   as  Seen  by  Some  of  the  Ea,'y  Fathers 
and  Others. 

Tli'  as  they  have  tome  down  to  us  wore  un- 

known to  the  carl\-  fathers,  and  such  Christian  writings 


112  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

as  they  knew  were  not  regarded  by  them  as  other  than  the 
works  of  ordinary  men.  The  doctrine  of  inspiration  was 
of  later  origin.  Dr.  Reich  (a  Greek  and  Latin  scholar), 
in  his  "History  of  Civilization,"  says:  "In  the  second  half 
of  the  second  century,  the  writings  were  divided  into  two 
parts,  known  as  the  gospels  and  the  Acts;  that  Papias, 
who  died  176  A.  C,  never  heard  of  the  New  Testament 
canon;  that  Justin  Martyr  (150)  refers  only  to  the  first 
and  third  gospels;  that  Polycarp  (150-160)  speaks  only  of 
fragments  of  gospels,  and  treats  them  as  of  no  special 
authority;  that  no  one  knew  or  pretended  to  know  where 
they  came  from ;  that  the  oldest  manuscripts  which  have 
come  down  to  our  time  are  the  Codex  Sinaiticus,  found 
in  a  convent  at  Mount  Sinai,  and  the  Codex  Vaticanus,  at 
Rome,  both  of  the  fourth  century." 

Following  in  the  general  wake,  Eichhorn  says: 
"Giescler,  De  Wette,  Ewald,  Reville  (all  Christian 
writers)  agree  that  the  gospels  were  taken  from  tradition, 
and  that  Mark  was  made  up  principally  from  Matthew 
and  Luke."  To  the  same  effect  see  Encyclopaedia  Bri- 
tannica.  This  last  authority  says:  "Irenaeus  had  a  canon 
of  his  own,  in  which  he  ignored  the  epistles  of  the 
Hebrews,  of  Jude,  of  James,  Second  Peter  and  Third 
John;  that  Clement  had  a  more  extended  collection,  in- 
cluding some  not  in  the  present  canon;  that  Tertullian's 
canon  differed  from  all  others;  Muratori  had  a  frag- 
mentary canon,  made  up  about  170,  containing  the  four 
gospels,  the  Acts,  the  thirteen  epistles  of  Paul,  those  of 
John  and  Jude,  and  the  Apocalypse,  and  that  some  of  the 
so-called  epistles  of  Paul  were  then  charged  to  be 
forgeries;  that  the  Xew  Testament  version  used  in  Syria 
did  not  contain  Second  Peter,  Second  and  Third  John; 
that  a  canon  near  the  end  of  the    second    century  was 


And  Christian  Mythology.  113 

agreed  to  by  a  few  of  the  church  Bishops;  that  at  the 
Council  of  Nice  very  little  judgment  was  exercised  in 
settling  the  canon  beyond  the  books  generally  established 
by  custom,  but  that  the  canon  was  not  finally  settled  until 
the  fifth  century." 

Sabinus,  Bishop  of  Heraclea,  affirms  that,  excepting 
Constantine  and  Eusebius,  this  council  was  made  up  of  a 
lot  of  illiterate  creatures,  understanding  nothing,  and 
Pappus,  in  his  synodicon  to  the  council,  says  that  all  of 
the  books  referred  to  the  council  for  determination  were 
put  under  the  communion-table,  when  the  council  asked 
God  to  take  out  the  inspired  ones  and  put  them  on  the 
table,  leaving  the  spurious  ones  under  the  table,  and  that 
it  happened  accordingly. 

The  majority  of  modern  critics,  and  they  are  many, 
after  most  thorough  research,  examination,  and  compari- 
son of  the  books  with  each  other,  have  reached  the  con- 
clusion that  the  larger  part  of  the  writings,  comprising  all 
of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament,  are  forgeries  by 
priests  and  monks,  made  in  the  interest  of  the  church,  and 
that  the  fourth  gospel  was  written  at  a  very  late  period. 

It  is  a  well-established  fact  that  these  books  were  un- 
known to  the  world  until  the  latter  half  of  the  third  cent- 
ury, that  they  were   made  Up  from  tradition  and  scraps 

of  writing,  picked  up  Iktc,  there,  and  everywhere  in 
Christendom,  mixed  and  mingled  with  forgeries  of  every 
kind,  and  that  oul  of  this  heterogeneous  hatch  of  rubbish, 
the  early  fathers  of  the  church  selected  what  suited  them, 
hich  they  added  their  own  wishes  and  opinions,  and 
therebj  created  a  testamenl  of  the  life  of  Chrisl  and  a 
code  of  religion.  Many  of  the  statements  in  these  books 
are  rionr  contradiction 

It  is  said  b)  as  able  an  authoi  as  Professor  Westcott, 


114  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

that  three  of  the  compilers  of  these  books  were  in  cor- 
respondence at  Jerusalem  long  enough  to  compare  and 
exchange  notes. 

The  books  first  appeared  in  Greek,  while  the  language 
in  Judea,  where  Christ  did  his  talking,  was  Aramaic. 

They  were  translated  into  Saxon  in  721  A.  C,  by 
Bishop  Egbert. 

Gibbon  says  the  history  of  the  actions  of  Christ  was 
composed  in  Greek  during  the  reign  of  Nero  and 
Domitian,  in  the  cities  of  Alexandria,  Antioch,  Rome,  and 
Ephesus.  As  to  this  matter,  see  later  authorities  herein- 
after cited  and  quoted  from. 

Gibbon,  in  speaking  of  the  Council  of  Rimini,  says  that 
the  edict  seeming  to  cast  suspicion  on  the  Homoousion 
standard  was  obtained  by  fraud. 

The  author  of  the  notes  to  Gibbon  in  support  of  the 
text,  says:  "And  this  wicked  conduct  was  not  the  excep- 
tion in  this  particular  Council,  but  it  was  the  established 
and  universal  custom.  Creeds  were  invented  and  suc- 
cessfully established  by  means  that  would  disgrace  a  mod- 
ern political  caucus.  Scriptures  were  interpolated,  au- 
thorities were  forged,  the  venal  were  purchased,  and  the 
ignorant  were  cajoled"  in  the  interest  of  the  church.  The 
pious  Tillemont  says:  "Without  Eusebius  we  should 
scarcely  have  any  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  first 
age  of  Christianity;"  and  with  him,  it  must  be  confessed 
that  we  have  very  little  that  is  reliable. 

The  devout  Lardner,  in  speaking  of  Eusebius,  says: 
"He  had  great  zeal  for  the  Christian  religion,"  and  it 
seems  too  bad  for  Christian  writers  to  associate  his  name 
with  Satan. 

Hormesdas,  bishop  of  Rome  544  A.  C,  called  Eusebius 
a  forger. 


And  Christian  Mythology.  115 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Eusebius  was  bishop  of 
Caesarea,  and  that  he  has  been  characterized  (very 
properly)  as  the  father  of  ecclesiastical  history. 

Christianity,  to  the  devout,  virtually  hangs  on  the 
writings  of  this  man  Eusebius,  whom  so  many  of  his  fel- 
low-churchmen denounce  as  a  forger  and  a  fraud. 

Dean  Milman,  who  censures  Gibbon  so  severely  for 
telling  the  truth  about  the  church,  expresses  his  regret 
that  '"the  fine  gold  so  soon  became  dim  in  the  Christian 
church."  Even  the  Emperor  Constantine,  after  he  had 
become  a  quasi-Christian,  and  after  having  put  Eusebius 
in  the  Council  of  Nice,  as  a  friend,  in  an  address  to  the 
people  of  Nicomedia,  accused  him  of  deceit,  fraud,  and 
forgery  as  to  the  gospels. 

In  his  writings,  Eusebius  frankly  admits  that  falsehood 
is  justifiable  in  the  interest  of  the  church.  He  says  the 
writings  of  Philo  and  the  gospels  are  one  and  the  same, 
that  Christianity  did  not  take  its  rise  with  Christ,  thai  its 
doctrines  are  bul  the  natural  outgrowth  of  all  good  men. 

Even  Pope  Boniface  IX..  1310  A.  C.  denounced 
( Christianity  as  a  fraud.  He  said  Christ  was  but  an  ordi- 
nary man.  that  inspiration  was  a  lie  that  the  whole 
Christian  scheme  was  gotten  up  to  control  the  vulgar  ami 
that  all  intelligent  men  knew  this  to  be  true 

for  these,  and  other  similar  sayings,  Boniface  was  de 
noun  heretic.     After  death  his  body  was  taken  oul 

r,f  tli<  I  before  his  successor,  P< ipe  I  lem 

ent,  sitting  with  a  Council  (see  Draper's  "Intellectual  Dc- 
pment  of  Eui 

Authors/tip  and   Time  of  the    Writings. 

This  brings  us  to  the  question  of  the  authorship  of  these 
ks,  and  the  time  when  the;    "  ■  p    written  6t  compiled. 


116  ( 'niit-mentaries  on  Hebrew 

The  general  belief,  especially  among  the  Christians,  is 
that  the  books  were  written  by  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke, 
and  John.  That  Mark  wrote  in  44,  Matthew  in  44,  Luke 
in  55,  and  John  in  96  or  97  A.  C. 

A  few  preliminary  statements  will  be  here  first  in  order, 
when  we  will  proceed  to  show  by  the  highest  and  most 
reliable  authority,  how  and  when  the  four  gospels  and 
other  Xew  Testament  writings  came  into  existence.  As 
before  stated,  there  were  no  Christian  writings  during  the 
first  century.  During  that  time  the  leading  advocates  of 
Christianity  busied  themselves  in  oral  declamations  con- 
cerning Christ  and  his  second  coming.  Whatever  was 
said  concerning  the  new  faith  was  called  a  gospel,  for  this 
was  but  another  word  for  good  tidings,  so  the  early  gos- 
pels were  all  oral.  The  bishops  and  other  apostles  picked 
up  whatever  they  could  hear  concerning  the  new  faith, 
proclaimed  it  aloud  in  their  churches,  in  the  streets  and 
highways;  this  they  continued  to  do  until  the  beginning 
of  the  second  century,  when,  becoming  tired  of  waiting 
for  the  second  coming  of  their  Messiah,  the  Scribes  com- 
menced to  reduce  to  writing  the  declamations  and  preach- 
ings of  the  apostles  and  bishops. 

During  the  second  century  the  new  religion  was  pro- 
claimed over  most  parts  of  the  Roman  Empire,  but,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  the  understanding  by  different  men  in 
different  localities  was  very  much  at  variance,  no  two 
seeing  or  talking  alike.  This  talk  or  teaching,  not  being 
in  perfect  harmony,  necessarily  produced  dissimilar  writ- 
ings or  gospels;  but  in  many  respects,  and  as  to  more  im- 
portant matters,  especially  concerning  the  second  advent, 
the  differences  were  slight.  At  the  end  of  the  second  cent- 
ury each  church,  especially  the  churches  of  the  large 
cities,  had  its  own  gospels,  and  each    great    division  of 


And   Christian   Mythology.  117 

territory  maintained  certain  gospels  in  common.  The 
provinces  of  Asia  had  their  gospels,  known  as  the  gospels 
of  the  East;  while  Europe  had  its  general  gospel,  known 
as  the  Western  gospel;  and  for  Africa,  Alexandria  had  its 
gospels.  It  is  needless  to  say  that,  even  between  these 
three  general  gospels,  as  they  existed  before  any  attempt 
to  harmonize  them,  there  were  wide  differences.  The 
three,  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke,  running  in  a  general 
groove,  were  by  reason  of  their  resemblance  called  synop- 
tic; while  the  gospel  of  John,  being  of  much  later  origin, 
and  made  to  heal  the  strife  between  the  Hebrew  and 
pagan  factions,  necessarily  stands  out  by  itself. 

Attempts  were  made  from  time  to  time  to  bring  to- 
gether and,  as  far  as  possible,  harmonize  these  gospels  by 
amendments,  but  complete  reconciliation  was  found  im- 
possible without  a  complete  destruction  of  all,  and  the  re- 
construction of  one  harmonious  whole;  but  the  spirit  of 
strife  was  too  fierce  to  permit  of  this,  so  the  bishops,  each 
conceding  as  little  as  possible  and  claiming  all  he  could 
get,  brought  about  the  numerous  Councils  in  which  all 
the  churches  were  represented.  But  even  here  strife  was 
the  ruk-.  and  harmony  the  exception;  the  contending  par- 
resorted  to  all  manner  of  intrigue,  artifice,  deception, 
and  even  force  to  accomplish  their  ends,  bringing  in 
bands  of  s<  rtdiers  well  armed  to  sustain  tin  ir  position.  By 
this  means  some  of  the  Councils  acquired  unenviable 
reputation.  The  Emperor  Theodosius,  in  449,  called  a 
'tie  the  gospels  ;i-  to  the  ^tntus  of  (  Ihrist 
The  Council  met  at  Ephesus,  headed  by  Eutyches,  who 
brought  with  him  three  hundred  monks  and  a  body  of 
soldiers.     As  usual  in  such  Councils,  sedition   reigned; 

the   'niter-,    of  the   monks,    with   the   aid     of   the   soldiers, 

settled  matters,  and  Christ  was  decreed  to  consisl  of  two 


118  Commentaries  on  Uebreiv 

persons.  This  Council  received  the  name  of  the  "Robber 
Synod,"  says  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

The  famous  Council  of  Nice,  called  by  Constantine,  the 
pagan  Emperor,  who  sat  at  its  head,  convened  325  A.  C. 
It  was  this  Council  that  made  a  decree  settling  the  gospels 
and  other  New  Testament  books.  Notwithstanding  this, 
the  decree  was  resisted. 

We  have  but  meagre  accounts  of  the  proceedings  of 
this  Council,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  fathers  of  the 
church,  by  order  of  the  emperor,  destroyed  the  records, 
and  then  denied  that  any  records  had  been  kept. 

If  the  records  of  this  Council  could  have  been  pre- 
served and  published  to  the  world,  disclosing  the  villany, 
fraud,  and  rascality  of  the  Council,  the  church  could  not 
even  in  that  age  have  survived  the  shock,  and  this  the 
bishops  and  other  leaders  well  knew;  hence  the  destruc- 
tion and  denial. 

The  canon  of  the  New  Testament  was  again  amended 
and  ratified  at  the  third  Council  of  Carthage,  399  A.  C, 
and  further  amended  at  the  Council  of  Trent,  1545.  At 
this  Council  purgatory  was  definitely  established.  Dur- 
ing all  this  time  there  was  a  continuous  overhauling  of 
the  books  by  several  of  the  bishops,  who  pruned  to  suit 
their  own  notions. 

The  numerous  Councils,  by  a  majority  vote,  declared 
their  bodies  inspired.  On  the  majority  vote  depended 
the  question  of  inspiration  or  no  inspiration. 

We  now  proceed  to  support  our  position  as  to  the 
spurious  character  of  the  four  gospels  and  other  New 
Testament  writings. 

The  writer  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  says  the 
Councils  have  been  aptly  called  "the  battle-ground  of  the 
church."     There    was    no    established    creed    until  the 


And  Christian  Mythology.  119 

Council  of  Nice;  prior  thereto  all  had  their  own  creeds. 
This  Council  made  a  decree  settling  forever  the  creed; 
but  notwithstanding  this,  the  creed  was  enlarged  at  the 
Council  of  Chalcedon,  451 ;  and  at  the  Council  of  Toledo, 
589,  other  changes  were  made.  In  speaking  of  the  criti- 
cisms, this  writer  says  that  an  influential  school  of  critics 
hold  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  New  Testament  books 
are  direct  forgeries;  that,  in  fact,  every  book  in  the  New 
Testament,  except  the  four  great  epistles  of  Paul,  is  in  dis- 
pute ;  that  up  to  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  genuine 
and  spurious  books  were  used  indiscriminately  in  some  of 
the  churches;  and  that  the  Council  of  Laodicea,  in  360, 
prohibited  the  use  of  certain  books  believed  not  to  be 
genuine. 

Alexandrian  Codex  or  Bible,   and  Others. 

The  oldest  manuscripts  that  have  come  down  to  us  are 
the  Codex  Sinaiticus,  found  in  a  convent  on  Mount 
Sinai,  and  the  Codex  Yaticanus,  in  the  Vatican  at  Rome, 
both  of  the  fourth  century.     Next    comes    the    Codex 

andrinus,  which  is  the  name  given  to  a  Greek  manu- 
scripl  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  now  in  the 
British   Museum.     It  was  brought  from  Alexandria  by 

llus  Lucaris,  patriarch  of  Alexandria,  and  presented 
to  ( "harles  I.  of  England,  in  [628.  On  the  page  contain- 
ing a  list  of  the  books  of  the  (  >M  and  New  Testaments 
appears  an  inscription  in  Arabic,  which  states  thai  the 
manuscript  was  written  by  the  hand  of  Martyr  Thecla. 
There  also  appears  on  this  documenl  an  inscription  in 
Latin,  written  by  Cyrillus  himself,  which  says  thai  Thecla 

a  noble  Egyptian  lady  who  lived  shortly  after  the 
Council  <if  Nice.  Mosl  critics,  basing  their  opinion  on 
the  style  -  if  the  writing  and  « ither  evidence,  conclude  thai 


120  Commentaries  on  Hebrew) 

the  manuscript  was  written  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth 
century,  while  some  assert  that  it  was  written  as  late  as 
the  tenth  century.  The  manuscript  consists  of  four 
volumes  of  the  Old  and  one  of  the  New  Testament.  In 
the  manuscript  most  of  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  a  part  of 
John,  and  a  part  of  Chronicles  are  missing.  The  famous 
passage  in  I  John  v,  7,  "For  there  are  three  that  bear 
record  in  heaven,  the  Father,  the  Word,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  these  three  are  one,"  is  now  generally  re- 
garded as  a  forgery.  It  appears  from  Cyrillus'  endorse- 
ment, that  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  as 
we  have  them  from  tradition,  were  written  by  this 
Egyptian  lady,  about  1,500  years  ago,  and  a  little  after  the 
Council  of  Nice,  and  that  the  name  of  Thecla  was  written 
at  the  end  of  the  book,  so  says  the  American  Cyclopaedia. 

The  Council  of  Nice,  it  will  be  remembered,  convened 
in  325,  and  adjourned  381  A.  C. 

A  writer  in  the  Penny  Cyclopaedia  tells  us  that  it  ap- 
pears on  the  first  page  of  Genesis,  that  the  manuscript  was 
dedicated  to  the  patriarch  of  Alexandria. 

It  will  here  be  seen  that  we  have  the  admission  of  the 
patriarch  Cyrillus,  that  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  were  written  from  tradition. 

Query,  where  did  this  Egyptian  lady  get  the  materials 
from  which  to  write  this  Bible?  Did  she  derive  her  in- 
formation from  tradition,  or  from  older  writings?  And 
was  she  the  first  author  or  compiler  of  the  Bible?  And  if 
so,  did  she  get  her  inspiration  in  the  atmosphere  of  oral 
communications,  or  did  she  take  it  second-hand  from 
other  writings? 

As  Origen,  after  spending  twenty-eight  years  of  his  life 
in  picking  up  manuscripts,  commenced  to  make  a  Bible  of 
his  own,  at  Caesarea  in  331,  and  the  publication  of  the 


And  Christian  Mythology.  121 

Dible  containing  the  New  and  Old  Testament  first  ap- 
peared in  the  fifth  century,  the  question  naturally  sug- 
gests itself,  who  was  guilty  of  plagiarism?  Did  the 
Egyptian  lady  steal  Bishop  Origen's  scraps  from  which 
to  make  her  Bible?  or  did  the  compilers  and  publishers  of 
the  fifth  century  commit  piracy  of  Thecla's  Bible?  Prob- 
ably they  were  all  inspired  pirates.  Such  must  be  the 
case,  for  we  are  told  that  the  whole  Bible  was  written  by 
inspired  men,  so  this  Egyptian  lady  must  have  been  in- 
spired. At  all  events,  the  book  took  its  origin  in  tradi- 
tion, i.  e.,  it  was  handed  down  from  one  generation  to 
another  by  word  of  mouth. 

We  have  no  evidence  that  any  part  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment was  given  to  the  world  prior  to  this  time.  Baur 
informs  us  that  at  least  three  of  the  gospels  were  written 
in  a  crude  form,  from  tradition,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
second  century ;  that  the  Gospel  of  John  was  written  after 
that  time,  and  that  all  four  of  the  gospels  were  from  time 
t< .  time  thereafter  modified.  This  opinion  of  Baur  is  now 
accepted  as  true  by  all  the  ecclesiastical  historians  of 
Europe,  but  there  is  no  evidence  thai  these  gospels  were 
published  until  they  went  into  and  formed  part  of  the  New 
ament,  which,  as  before  stated,  was  published  in  the 
fifth  century;  nor  have  we  any  evidence  thai  (  Irigen  ever 
published  his  Bible.  In  the  absence  of  such  evidence  we 
musl  conclusively  presume  that  the  dates  of  these  publica 
tions  were  the  firsl  the  world  ever  knew  of  these  books. 

The  writer  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  tells  us  thai 

the  author-  of  the  three  synoptic   go  pel     seem   to  have 

borrowed  from  each  other,  or  thai  all  took  from  a  com 

mon   source.      That    Matthew  and    Luke  borrowed    from 

Mark,  he  says,  has  been  clearly  demonstrated.  He  also 
says  that  an  original  tradition  existed  before  the  three 


12k2  Commentaries  on   Hebrew 

synoptics,  that  some  common  document  of  Christ's  say- 
ings existed  before  the  narratives  of  Matthew  and  Luke, 
that  other  documents  or  traditions  existed,  that  there  is  no 
internal  evidence  to  determine  the  dates  of  the  gospels, 
that  Mark  in  many  things  includes  the  traditions  from 
which  Matthew  and  Luke  borrowed,  that  the  fourth  gos- 
pel seems  rather  to  be  a  poem  or  dream  than  a  biography, 
that  the  spirit  of  Hebrew  poetry  runs  through  the  whole 
record  (quoting  Westcott).  The  writer  says  that  the 
earliest  account  of  the  fourth  gospel  is  legendary;  that 
there  seems  to  be  a  joint  authorship,  or  it  was  written  by 
an  amanuensis;  that  the  gospel  is  the  active  and  manifold 
religious  thought  of  Ephesus,  to  furnish  the  needed  as- 
sistance to  Christianity  as  an  historical  religion,  again 
quoting  Westcott. 

This  writer,  in  speaking  of  Marcion,  the  Christian  re- 
former, who  lived  in  the  second  century,  established  a 
church,  and  had  a  large  following,  says  that  he,  Marcion, 
charged  the  fathers  of  the  church  with  fraud  and  forgeries 
as  to  the  gospels. 

Lessing,  in  his  treatise  of  the  gospels,  tells  us  that  the 
basis  of  all  the  gospels  grew  out  of  a  written  collection  of 
the  oral  narratives  of  the  apostles. 

By  a  comparison  of  the  four  gospels,  says  Strauss,  none 
of  them  appear  to  be  genuine;  their  narratives  are  not  the 
account  of  eye-witnesses,  but  were  taken  from  frag- 
mentary notes  of  men  who  lived  long  after  the  events  re- 
ferred to.  They  collected  and  made  notes  of  speeches, 
private  and  public,  and  of  all  sorts  of  legendary  tradi- 
tions, and  embellished  them  by  inventions  of  their  own. 
This  author  further  tells  us  that  about  the  middle  of  the 
second  century  there  were  different  versions  of  the  gos- 


And  Christian  Mythology.  Vl'6 

pels  in  a  crude  form,  and  that  traces  of  them  only  are 
found  in  our  present  ones. 

Schleiermacher  maintains  that  the  four  gospels  were 
compiled  from  a  number  of  disconnected  documents;  and 
Eichhorn,  in  his  criticisms,  says  they  came  from  tradition 
and  that  the  written  tradition  was  an  Aramaic  gospel. 

In  his  "Post-Apostolic  Age,"  Schwegler  says  the  gos- 
pels were  by  the  theological  spirit  of  the  age  corrected, 
offensive  matters  stricken  out  and  new  matter  inserted, 
and  thus  the  church  engaged  in  a  continual  production  of 
evangelical  speeches  and  sayings,  till  at  last  the  gospel 
reform  attained  its  finality  in  the  exclusive  recognition  of 
our  synoptic  gospels. 

In  his  "Lost  and  Hostile  Gospels,"  Baring-Gould  says 
that  until  the  settlement  of  the  canon,  every  church  had 
its  own  gospel  and  knew  no  others ;  that  the  first  gospel  of 
the  Hebrews,  in  a  crude  form,  was  written  in  the  interest 
of  the  Judaizing  Christians  about  the  middle  of  the  second 
century. 

In  Chambers'  Encyclopaedia  the  writer  says  that  it 
seems  tolerably  clear  that,  for  at  least  a  generation  after 
death  of  Christ,  no  attempl  was  made  to  reduce  to 
writing  any  record,  however  brief,  of  the  life  of  I  Christ  or 
of  his  teachings.  '  >ral  traditions  took  the  place  of  writ- 
ings, and  from  such  the  gospels  were  written;  that  all  of 
taken   from   earlier    writings    and   oral 

tradition.     Finally,  the  Council  of  Carthage,  in  397,  sane 
tioned,  for  the  West,  our  presenl  gospels,  made   from: 
First,  the  neutral  Alexandrian  text;  second,  the  written 
text  brought  to  Rome  from  Syria;  third,  a  non  written 

prc-Svrian   texl   called   Alexandrian:    that     the   firsl    text 

underwent  numerous  changes  up  to  200  V  ( '..  and  thai 

the  third,  or  Syrian,  text,  was  modified  up  to  350  A.  C. 


124  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

This  writer  further  says:  "There  were  numerous  versions 
of  the  New  Testament,  and  parts  of  them  were  picked  up 
all  over  the  Roman  world,  all  taken  from  tradition,  and 
made  up  in  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  centuries.  The 
Latin  originated  in  Africa;  its  date  is  in  the  second  cent- 
ury; this  version  had  become  so  mutilated  that  it  was 
revised  in  the  third  and  fourth  centuries.  The  gospels 
were  completed  about  338  A.  C,  and  the  whole  New 
Testament  soon  thereafter." 

We  will  now  offer  in  evidence  the  sayings  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  McClintock,  as  taken  from  McClintock  and  Strong's 
"Cyclopaedia  of  Biblical  and  Ecclesiastical  Literature," 
published  in  1883.  As  this  comes  from  high  church 
sources  and  from  a  devout  Christian,  it  should  be  undis- 
puted among  the  faithful.  The  writer,  after  saying  that 
the  canon  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  its  present  shape,  was 
formed  gradually,  beginning  with  Ezra  and  extending 
down  to  322  B.  C,  reluctantly  adds:  "The  New  Testament 
canon  presents  a  remarkable  analogy  to  the  canon  of  the 
Old  Testament.  The  beginnings  of  both  are  obscure; 
both  grew  silently,  under  the  guidance  of  an  inward  in- 
stinct, rather  than  by  force  of  external  authority;  both 
were  connected  with  other  religious  literature  by  a  series 
of  books  which  claimed  a  partial  and  questionable 
authority;  both  gained  definiteness  in  times  of  persecu- 
tions. All  of  the  churches  of  the  West  joined  in  ratifying 
the  canon  of  the  New  Testament ;  each  of  the  churches  of 
the  greatest  ability  collected  for  itself  such  writings  as 
could  be  proven  to  have  been  the  production  of  inspired 
men.  These  books  were  neither  sanctioned  by  indi- 
viduals or  councils,  but  by  natural  process."  He  further 
says:  "The  history  of  the  canon  may  be  divided  into  three 
periods.     The  first,  extending  to  170,  includes  the  era  of 


Jm/  Christian   Mythology.  125 

circulation  and  gradual  collection  of  the  apostolic  writ- 
ings. The  second  is  closed  in  303,  separating  the  sacred 
from  other  ecclesiastical  writings.  The  third  may  be  de- 
fined by  the  third  Council  of  Carthage,  397  A.  C,  in  which 
a  catalogue  of  the  books  of  the  scriptures  was  formally 
ratified  by  conciliar  authority.  The  first  is  character- 
istically a  period  of  tradition,  the  second  of  speculation, 
and  the  third  of  authority,  and  we  may  trace  the  features 
of  the  successive  ages  in  the  course  of  the  history  of  the 
canon.  But  however  all  this  may  have  been,  the  com- 
plete canon  of  the  New  Testament,  as  we  now  have  it,  was 
ratified  by  the  third  Council  of  Carthage,  397  A.  C,  from 
which  time  it  was  generally  accepted  by  the  Latin  church, 
some  of  the  books  remaining  in  doubt  and  disputed."  The 
Council  of  Trent,  1543  to  1563,  reformed  the  canon  by 
adding  all  of  the  doubtful  books,  but  did  not  settle  the 
dispute.  The  writer  concluded  by  saying,  "The  writings 
of  Ferdinand  C.  Baur  and  his  followers  contain  valuable 
hints  as  to  these  books." 

Yes,   valuable   hints!  as   Baur  characterized  the   four 
gospels,  also  several  of  the  epistles,  as  forgeries. 

How  hesitatingly  and  begrudginglv  this  Rev.  McClin- 

tock  is  forced  to  admit  that  the  (  >ld  and  New  Testament 

taken  from  pagan  religions,  that  they  were  of  slow 

and  gradual  growth,  bj  force  of  a  natural,  or  internal  in- 

t,  and  nol  by  external  (divine)  authority. 

Just  what  this  author  means  bj  the  words  "internal 
instinct,"  in  this  connection,  is  nol  easj  to  determine.     In 
vent,  it  is  n<  A  b)  divine  authority. 

This  n  entleman,  continuing,  saj     "Although 

nerally  propagated  in  \  ia,  I  urope,  and 
Afn.  was  no  meeting  of  Christians    to   di 

mootrri  questions  until  the  middle  of  the  se«  ond  centurj  ; 


126  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

the  four  gospels,  as  one  collection,  were  generally  used 
and  adopted  before  the  end  of  the  second  century." 

In  speaking  of  the  numerous  gospels  afloat  all  over  the 
Roman  world,  this  writer  says  that  some  were  at  once  re- 
jected, while  many  others,  such  as  the  Gospel  or  History 
of  Joseph,  of  the  Nativity  of  Mary,  of  the  Infancy  of 
Christ,  of  Nicodemus,  etc.,  were  classed  as  apocryphal; 
that  in  these  gospels  (which  were  rejected  by  the  Protest- 
ants) one  may  find  the  most  wonderful  tales  concerning 
the  infant  Christ;  that  the  Gospel  of  Nicodemus,  found 
among  the  records  of  Pontius  Pilate,  A.  C.  380,  gives  a 
graphic  and  vivid  picture  of  Christ's  descent  into  hell  to 
liberate  the  spirits  of  the  damned.  As  to  this  more  will 
be  said  further  on.  Among  the  church  fathers  who  be- 
lieved and  taught  the  story  of  Christ's  descent  into  hell 
with  the  other  apocryphal  gospel  stories,  we  find  the 
names  of  Ignatius,  Hermos,  Justin  Martyr,  Irenaeus,  Ter- 
tullian,  Clement,  Origen,  Cyprian,  Cyril,  Ambrose, 
Jerome,  Augustine,  and  Chrysostom.  Those  men  used 
these  apocryphal  gospels  in  their  attempt  to  prove  the 
personal  existence  of  their  Christ,  which  at  that  time  was 
freely  denied. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  this  gospel,  like  some  of  the 
other  apocryphal  writings,  reveled  in  most  glowing  tales 
and  picturesque  scenes  of  the  doings  of  Christ,  and  that, 
like  all  the  other  gospels,  it  had  the  same  origin,  rested  on 
the  same  evidence,  and  was  equally  well  authenticated. 

The  substance  of  all  of  them  came  from  pagan  sources. 
The  one  as  to  Christ's  descent  into  hell  was  undoubtedly 
borrowed  from  the  Chaldean  story  of  the  Goddess  Ish- 
tar's  descent  into  Hades. 

This  writer  reluctantly  admits  the  conflict  between  the 
statemenl   in  the  synoptic  gospels  and  those  of  John's, 


And  Christ i<ui  Mythology.  127 

where,  in  the  three  gospels,  it  appears  Christ's  teachings 
were  laid  in  Galilee,  while  in  the  fourth  gospel  they  are 
laid  in  Judea  and  Jerusalem. 

In  his  "Cradle  of  Christ,"  Frothingham  says:  "Chris- 
tianity owes  its  entire  wardrobe,  ecclesiastical,  symbolical, 
and  dogmatical,  to  the  religions  that  preceded  it,  differing 
but  little  from  paganism." 

Huxley,  in  speaking  of  the  gospels,  says:  "In  my 
opinion  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  we  have  no  knowl- 
edge of  the  authorship  or  of  the  date  of  the  composition 
of  the  gospels  as  they  have  come  down  to  us,  and  that 
nothing  better  than  more  or  less  probable  guessing  can 
be  arrived  at  on  that  subject." 

And  as  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  on  which  so  much 
stress  has  been  laid  by  the  Christians,  in  their  efforts  to 
prove  the  purity  of  their  hero,  the  very  gem  in  the  con- 
stellation of  their  endeavor,  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that 
Christ  never  uttered  the  words  found  therein.  On  this 
question  Professor  Huxley  says:  "The  Sermon  on  tin- 
Mount,  as  given  in  the  first  gospel,  is  in  the  opinion  of  the 
best  critics,  a  mosaic- work  of  materials  from  different 
sources."  He  concludes  by  saying,  "I  do  not  understand 
that  this  statement  is  challenged." 

Professor  Hottzmann,  speaking  of  this  matter,  says 
"The  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  as  given  in  the  firsl  gospel, 
has  been  copied  from  a  composition  of  I  [ebrew  writings." 

Professor  C.  W.  Shields,  in  his  efforts  to  support 
Christianity,  reluctantly  admits  thai  Matthew,  Mark,  and 
Luke  tell  irreconcilable  stories  as  to  the  crucifixion. 

The  Catharists.  Waldenses,  and  Petrobrusians,  Chris 
tian  sects,  boldlj  asserted  Renan,  that  the  estab 

lished  religion  was  a  motl<  t<  m  nf  errors  and  supei 

Stitions, 


128  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

Mosheim,  an  impartial  ecclesiastical  historian,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  Council  of  Nice,  says:  "The  disputes  carried  on 
in  this  and  other  councils  show  the  greatest  ignorance  and 
utter  confusion  of  ideas;  the  will  of  the  council  was  deter- 
mined by  a  majority  vote,  to  secure  which  all  manner  of 
intrigues  and  impositions  were  resorted  to,  including 
bribery  and  violence,  and  it  was  deemed  an  act  of  virtue 
to  deceive  and  lie  in  the  interest  of  the  church." 

Dr.  Harnack,  in  the  second  edition  of  his  "Criticisms," 
says  that  all  of  the  so-called  utterances  of  Christ  were  bor- 
rowed. 

As  to  the  origin  of  the  gospels,  the  writer  in  Chambers' 
Encyclopaedia  sums  up  the  situation  as  follows:  That  dur- 
ing the  first  generation  all  rested  on  tradition;  that  shortly 
thereafter  some  unknown  person  commenced  to  write  a 
collection  of  discourses,  parables,  predictions,  and  apho- 
risms in  a  loose  way  in  Aramaic.  About  the  same  time 
Mark  arranged,  in  Greek,  his  fragmentary  recollections 
of  what  he  had  heard  Peter  say ;  this  he  did  not  scruple  to 
supplement  with  other  hearsay  stories.  The  two  writers 
were  mutually  complementary,  and  an  attempt  was  made 
to  combine  them.  After  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
there  was  edited  in  Rome  the  present  form  of  the  second 
gospel,  specially  for  the  gentile  Christians.  At  a  later 
date,  the  third  gospel  was  compiled,  taken  from  or  de- 
pendent on  Mark  and  other  writings  and  traditions. 
These  three,  being  similar,  have  been  characterized  as 
synoptic.  These  gospels  are  not  independent  of  each 
other. 

Jerome,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  near  the  close  of  the  second 
century,  attempted  to  harmonize  the  four  gospels.  About 
the  middle  of  the  third  century,  one  Ammonius,  of  Alex- 
andria, taking  Matthew  as  a  basis,  commenced  to  adjust 


And  Christian  Mythology.  129 

the  other  three  to  it,  from  which  Eusebius  took  the  hint 
and  gave  all  of  them  a  general  overhauling.  The  most 
far-reaching  and  conclusive  evidence  we  have  against  the 
alleged  authenticity  of  the  four  gospels  and  some  epistles, 
comes  from  four  great  Christian  leaders  of  the  church, 
Ferdinand  C.  Baur,  David  F.  Strauss,  I.  B.  Bauer,  and  J. 
E.  Renan. 

Ferdinand  C.  Baur,  the  founder,  president,  and  dis- 
tinguished leader  of  the  modern  Tubingen  school  of 
theology  in  Germany,  was  born  at  Cronstadt,  June  21, 
1 792 ;  died  i860.  A  more  profound  scholar  Europe  never 
had.  He  was  the  author  of  numerous  works,  mostly  of  a 
theological  character.  When  he  published  his  criticisms 
on  the  four  gospels,  so  successful  was  he  that  all  Christian 
Germany,  yes,  all  Christian  Europe,  was  alarmed,  says  the 
Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  corps  of  writers  on  that 
great  work  were    stanch    churchmen,    blind  to  even 
thing  not  in  the  interest  of  Christianity;  but  on   such  a 
work  they  found  themselves  forced  to  speak   the  truth 
when  facts  were  too  plain  to  be  disregarded. 

In  speaking  of  the  gospels  and  other  sacred  writings  of 

the  <  Ihristians,  Main-  saj  s:  "The  Epistles  to  the  Colossians 

and  to  the  Philippians,  as  well  as  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 

pinions,  and  were  written  b)   the  Catholic  School 

near  the  end  of  the  second  century,  to  heal  the  strife  be- 

and  <  ientile  facti<  >n  i ;  and  the  four  gi  tsp<  Is 

1  party  d  nt  g<  ispel  -  are 

not  tin    earli<   I  documents  of  the  kind    found    b}   the 

church.     Before  them  existed  a  prim;  "f  evan 

d  traditions,  known  by  different  names,  :is  the  GOS 

pel  of  the  Hebrev  s,  of  St.  Peter,  of  the  Ebionites,  of  the 
ptians,  et<      Thes<   gospels  are  spurious,  and    were 


130  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

written  during  the  second  century,  and  no  list  of  the  New 
Testament  books  was  made  until  360  A.  C.  For  two  and 
a  half  centuries  we  had  no  Bible;  the  canon  as  it  now 
stands  was  fixed  by  decree  by  Pope  Innocent  I.,  405." 
In  this  decree  the  Pope  threw  out  the  books  of  the  quar- 
rels, so  says  Schwegler,  the  biblical  critic. 

The  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  being  driven  into  a  cor- 
ner, and  after  commenting  on  Professor  Baur,  grudg- 
ingly says:  "The  four  gospels  remain  in  a  shadow,  but 
it  is  certain  that  the  synoptic  gospels  took  their  present 
form  only  by  degrees,  and  that  while  they  have  their  root 
in  the  apostolic  age,  they  are  fashioned  by  later  influ- 
ences and  adapted  to  special  wants  in  the  early  church. 
They  are  the  deposits,  in  short,  of  Christian  traditions 
handed  down,  first  of  all  in  an  oral  form,  before  being 
committed  to  writing  in  such  a  form  as  we  now  have 
them ;  and  this  is  now  an  accepted  conclusion  of  every  his- 
torical school  of  theologians  in  England,  no  less  than  in 
Germany,  conservative  no  less  than  radical,  and  is  largely 
the  result  of  the  Tubingen  investigations.  It  may  have 
been  understood  before,  but  its  historical  significance  was 
not  appreciated.  Baur's  influence  can  not  be  overrated, 
his  great  genius  and  learning  enabled  him  to  read  the 
meaning  of  certain  features  of  primitive  Christianity 
hitherto  imperfectly  discerned,  and  to  point  future  in- 
quirers along  the  true  road  of  discovery." 

Baur  believed,  and  this  is  now  the  generally  accepted 
opinion,  that  the  four  gospels  and  the  other  sacred  books 
named  by  him  were  made  after  the  middle  of  the  second 
century,  and  after  the  Judaistic  and  Ebionistic  parties  had 
been  consolidated  into  the  Catholic  Church. 

As  the  writings  are  traced  to  the  Catholic  school,  which 
did  not  exist  until  after  the  consolidation,  they  could  not 


And  Christian  Mythology.  131 

have  been  written  before  the  middle  of  the  second  cent- 
ury. 

The  Rev.  McClintock,  speaking  of  Ferdinand  C.  Baur, 
says:  "For  many  years  he  devoted  his  great  intellect  to 
the  subversion  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Christian- 
it}-;  he  was  the  founder  of  the  Tubingen  school  of  theol- 
ogy, which  further  developed  his  views  and  gained  him 
a  sad  notoriety  by  its  attacks  on  the  authenticity  of  the 
New  Testament;  he  denied  the  authenticity  of  all 
Pauline  Epistles,  except  those  of  the  Galatians,  Corin- 
thians, and  Romans."  This  writer  further  says:  "The 
numerous  works  of  Baur  comprise  a  complete  history  of 
Christianity,  from  its  inception  down  to  the  present  time; 
and  he  leaves  a  great  reputation  for  talent,  breadth  of 
view,  and  industry." 

What  a  commentary  on  Christianity,  that  this  great 
man,  reared  in  the  faith  and  devoting  his  life  to  a  study  of 
the  origin  and  sourer  of  its  doctrines,  sin  mid  nol  only  re- 
pudiate the  church  and  its  theories,  on  the  ground  thai 
the)  were  untrue,  but  that  his  farts  and  arguments  were 
so  irrefragable  as  to  convince  all  the  ecclesiastical  histo 
rians  of  Europe,  who  to-day  adopt  his  facts  and  conclu 
.  carrying  with  them  t<>  all  learned  men  the  evi- 
dence of  the  near  downfall  of  Christianity. 

In  the  comments  <>f  the  Rev.   McClintock  the  whole 
is  told:  Christianity  and  ignorance  are  one  and  the 
same.    Ti  i  be  intelligent,  and  to  be  learned  in  the  origin  <>f 
tianit) .  is  to  repudiat 

David  Fredericl  followed  Baur.    rle  was  born 

at  Ludwi  fan.  27,  1 808,  was  a  tudent  of  theology 

at  theTubingi  n  S<  hool,  be<  ame  prof<     oi  and  tea*  h<  1  ol 
Latin  and  Hebrew  al  Maulbronn,  1  tudent  of, 

and  published  numerous  works  on,  theology.     In  1834 


132  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

and  1835  he  published  his  two  volumes  of  the  "Life  of 
Jesus,"  which,  like  the  gospel  works  of  Baur,  created  un- 
bounded fear  among  all  Christians,  both  Catholic  and 
Protestant. 

As  this  work  is  in  all  our  libraries,  where  it  may  be  had, 
it  is  only  necessary  here  to  say  that  he  reached  the  con- 
clusion that  the  four  gospels  are  but  legendary  romance, 
that  the  names  of  their  purported  authors  are  forgeries, 
and  that  after  a  century  or  more  of  oral  tradition  various 
compilations  were  written.  He  treats  the  whole  Christian 
story  as  a  myth,  a  work  of  mere  fiction  invented  by  the 
fathers  of  the  church.  As  to  Christ,  he  says  that  after  his 
death  there  gradually  grew  up  marvelous  tales  concern- 
ing him,  which  were  the  spontaneous  outgrowth  of  fiction. 

Next  in  order  of  these  great  scholars  comes  I.  Bruno 
Bauer,  born  at  Eisenberg,  Sept.  6,  1809.  Like  Baur  and 
Strauss,  he  was  a  theologian  and  the  author  of  numerous 
works,  mostly  of  a  theological  nature. 

In  1835  he  published  a  work  severely  criticising  Strauss' 
"Life  of  Jesus,"  but  after  further  investigation,  changed 
his  views,  followed  Baur  and  Strauss,  and  maintained  that 
the  gospels,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  principal 
Epistles  of  Paul  were  willful  forgeries,  written  during  the 
second  century.  He  became  so  convinced  of  the  fraudu- 
lent origin  of  Christianity  that  he  deemed  it  the  duty  of 
the  civil  powers  to  suppress  it. 

Joseph  Ernest  Renan,  whose  "History  of  Israel"  we 
have  hereinbefore  freely  referred  to,  was  a  French  philol- 
ogist, born  at  Treguier,  Feb.  27,  1823,  studied  for  the 
priesthood,  was  Professor  of  Hebrew  in  the  College  de 
France,  and  was  by  the  government  sent  to  Syria  as  sci- 
entist. He  was  the  author  of  numerous  works,  among 
which  were  histories  of  Israel,  of  Paul,  of  the  Apostles, 


And  Christian  Mytholoyy.  133 

and  his  "Vie  de  Jesu."  When  this  last  work  appeared,  it 
created  about  the  same  sensation  as  did  the  works  of 
Baur,  Strauss,  and  Bauer.  Renan's  style  is  very  pleasant 
and  captivating,  as  soft  and  charming  as  that  of  a  woman. 
Many  of  his  statements  are  quasi-innuendoes;  he  is  so 
forcible,  so  convincing,  and  at  the  same  time  so  gentle 
and  smooth,  that  one  never  tires  reading  him.  He  holds 
up  to  view  the  contradictions  and  absurdities  of  the  gos- 
pel writings,  shows  that  they  are  not  the  works  of  their 
reputed  authors,  that  they  were  written  or  compiled  at  a 
much  later  date,  from  oral  tradition  and  from  scraps 
picked  up  here  and  there,  to  which  were  added  such  mat- 
ters as  the  interest  of  the  church  called  for.  In  short,  that 
most  of  the  Xew  Testament  writings  are  the  result  of  for- 
geries and  frauds.  In  the  most  gentle  way,  he  points  out 
the  manner  in  which  the  silly  and  idle  tales  concerning  the 
resurrection  got  into  circulation,  and  notes  the  ignorant 
class  which  gives  credence  to  them. 

These  four  men,  in  point  of  learning,  more  especially 
in  ecclesiastical  research,  have  no  superiors,  or  even 
equals,  in  Europe.  They  have  agreed  thai  the  four  gos- 
pels (giving  the  life  of  Christ)  were  not  written  by  their 
purported  authprs,  that  they  were  no1  written  till  the  lat- 
ter part  <»f  the  second  century,  that  they  were  made  up  of 
■  s  and  oral  tradition  to  suit  the  wants  of  the  church, 
and  that  the  names  of  the  purported  authors  are  forgeries, 
ntly  the  g<  ispels  are  mj  thsand  frauds.  This  c<  >n 
elusion  they  reached  era!  of  the  other  Christian 

sacred  writing 

This  verdict  has  been  approved  and  accepted  by  all  ol 
the  ecclesiastical  historiat  land  and  Germany. 

This  is  unquestionably  the  death  of  <  Christianity  with  all 
ecclesiastical  historians,  soon  to  be  accepted  by  all  intelli- 


134  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

gent  Christians.  leaving  the  more  ignorant  to  follow  the 
priestlet  and  die  a  slower  death  in  the  agonies  of  despair, 
ft  would  seem  that  we  might  rest  our  case  on  this,  but 
as  we  have  further  evidence,  we  will  here  offer  it. 

John  Tyndall  says:  "We  have  the  Canon  of  scriptures 
already  arranged  for  us.  But  to  sift  and  select  these  writ- 
ings from  the  mass  of  spurious  documents  afloat  at  the 
time  of  their  compilation,  was  a  work  of  vast  labor,  diffi- 
culty, and  responsibility.  The  age  was  rife  with  forgeries; 
even  good  men  lent  themselves  to  these  pious  frauds,  be- 
lieving that  Christian  doctrine  (which  of  course  was  their 
doctrine)  would  be  thereby  quickened  and  promoted  " 
He  further  says :  "There  are  gospels  and  counter-gospels, 
epistles  and  counter-epistles,  some  frivolous,  some  dull, 
some  speculative  and  romantic,  and  others  not  in  the 
Canon  which  were  of  authority  almost  equal  to  that  of  the 
Canonical  books."  He  further  says:  "When  arguments 
or  proofs  were  needed,  whether  on  the  side  of  the  Jewish 
Christians  or  of  the  Gentile  Christians,  a  document  was 
discovered  which  met  the  case,  and  on  which  the  name  of 
an  Apostle,  or  of  some  authoritative  contemporary  of  the 
Apostles,  was  boldly  inscribed.  The  end  being  held  to 
justify  the  means,  there  was  no  lack  of  manufactured  tes- 
timony; the  Christian  world  seethed,  not  only  with  apoc- 
ryphal writings,  but  with  hostile  interpretations  of  writ- 
ings not  apocryphal.  Then  arose  a  sect  of  gnostics,  men 
who  knew."  Discord,  strife,  persecutions,  banishment, 
and  torture  followed  as  usual.  Tyndall  exclaims:  "With 
terrible  jolts  and  oscillations,  the  religious  life  of  the  world 
has  run  down  the  ringing  grooves  of  change;  a  smoother 
route  may  have  been  undiscoverable.  At  all  events,  it 
was  not  discovered.  One  may  have  looked  with  despair 
on  the  excited  passions  and  wasted  energies  which,  after 


And  Christ;, i n  Mythology.  ]35 

ages  of  strife,  are  shown  to  be  mere  fatuity  and  foolish- 
ness. Thus  the  theses  which  shook  the  world  during  the 
first  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  have  for  the  most  part 
sunk  into  nothingness." 

Tyndall  might  with  propriety  have  added  that  sev- 
eral of  the  forgeries  were  proven,  but  proof  did  not  pre- 
vent a  forged  document  from  going  into  the  Canon  and 
thereby  becoming  one  of  the  inspired  writings,  and  that 
the  civil  arm  of  the  government  had  to  intervene  on  sev- 
eral occasions  to  prevent  bloodshed. 

It  frequently  happened  that  an  inspired  document  had 
to  be  amended  so  as  to  conform  to  other  writings. 
Whether  the  document  was  or  was  not  the  work  of  an  in- 
spired writer,  depended  on  the  majority  vote  of  the  Coun- 
cil. These  Councils  at  the  commencement  of  their  pro- 
ceedings having  voted  themselves  inspired,  and  thereby 
infallible,  one  would  naturally  have  supposed  that  all  of 
their  delegates  would  have  been  of  one  mind,  and  have 
I  the  same  way.  The  fact  that  such  was  not  the  case, 
may  be  accounted  for  on  the  hypothesis  that  infallibility 
and  inspiration  were  suspended  as  to  the  minority. 

Tt  has  been  often  asserted,  and  the  assertion  supported 
with  considerable  proof,  that  after  settling  the  canonical 

statu-  of  the  several  books  and  writings,  a  final  vote  wan 

taken  on  the  te,  resulting  in  a  majority  of  five, 

and  that  four  out  of  the  five  were  bribed. 

What  a  pity  thai  the  New  Testamenl  came  so  near  be- 
tted, and  thai  its  salvation  rests  on  five  votes,  and 
thai  four  out  of  the  five  who  east  these  votes  should  have 
:  used  of  receiving  bribes  for  giving  to  the  woi  Id  a 

code  of  religion.     As  long  as  the  number  of  the  Gods 
'  not,  under  the  pagan  rule  borrowed  by  the  Chris- 
tians, ha  ded  three,  the  bribe-givers  and  bribe- 


130  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

takers,  under  well-settled  usage,  ought  to  have  been  giver 
cabinet  positions  in  heaven  as  a  reward  for  establishing  a 
system  by  which  an  army  of  priests  and  clergymen  have 
been  enabled  to  hold  lucrative  positions  for  nearly  1900 
years. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Taylor,  one  of  the  ablest  ecclesi- 
astical scholars  and  writers  of  the  time,  in  his  "Diegesis,' 
says:  "The  resemblance  between  paganism  and  Chris 
tianity  as  taught  in  the  first  century,  was  so  absolute  as  to 
deceive  the  most  learned  student  of  the  two  mythologies." 
Mosheim  admits  with  reluctance  that  even  in  the  third 
century  the  more  intelligent  of  the  Christians  could 
not  see  any  difference  between  the  two.  Eusebius 
himself,  in  speaking  of  the  pagan  religion,  says: 
"Our  gospels  are  none  other  in  substance  than  the 
sacred  text  used  by  the  school  of  Philo."  "The 
early  Christians  so  closely  followed  the  teachings 
of  Philo,"  says  Mr.  Taylor,  "as  to  copy  verbatim 
very  much  of  his  writings."  This  author  further  says: 
"The  copying  covers  the  selfsame  doctrine,  rites,  ceremo- 
nies, festivals,  discipline,  and  psalms,  and  also  the  rules  as 
to  the  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,  the  observances  and 
claims  to  apostolic  founders;  in  short,  everything  of  the 
slightest  importance  practiced  by  the  school  of  Philo  was 
followed  by  the  leaders  of  the  early  Christians." 

Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  Philo  lived  and  wrote  before 
Josephus,  and  at  least  fifty  years  before  the  first  Christian 
writings,  and  when  Christ,  if  such  a  person  ever  existed, 
says  Dr.  Taylor,  was  not  over  ten  years  of  age.  This 
author  further  says :  "Here  then  we  have  in  the  writings 
of  this  philosopher  and  historian  of  unquestioned  veracity, 
living  and  writing  up  an  already  established  religious  sys- 
tem, more  than  fifty  years  before  the  earliest  dates  that 


And   Christian  Mythology.  137 

Christian  historians  have  assigned  to  any  Christian  docu- 
ment whatever,  a  complete  system  of  ecclesiastical  polity, 
its  bishops,  its  hierarchy  of  bishops,  its  subordinate  cler- 
gy, the  selfsame  scriptures,  the  selfsame  allegorical  meth- 
ods of  interpreting  these  scriptures,  the  selfsame  doc- 
trines, ceremonies,  festivals,  discipline,  psalms,  epistles, 
and  gospels,  in  a  word,  everything  and  every  iota  of  Chris- 
tianity." This  author  further  says:  "Philo,  while  partly 
following  Plato,  taught  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  the  manifestation  of  a  divine  man 
who  should  be  crucified,  and  the  eternal  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments of  a  future  life." 

According  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Taylor,  the  Christians 
copied  their  entire  religious  system  from  the  theoretical 
teachings  of  Plato  as  modified  and  improved  by  Philo. 
They  also  seem  to  have  copied  from  Plato  the  story  of 
the  conception  and  birth  of  their  Christ.  Plato  lived  over 
400  years  B.  C,  and  for  a  long  time  after  his  death  his  fol- 
lowers worshiped  him  as  one  of  the  Gods. 

It  was  taught  and  believed  thai  Plato  was  born  of  a 

pure  virgin  named  Perictione,  who  had  conceived  by  a 

':  of  the  God  Apollo,  and  that  Apollo  had  revealed  to 

Ariston,  to  whom  I Vrictione  was  betrothed,  that   Plato 

was  hi-  -<  in. 

The  ( Ihristian  story  is  a  good  copy  of  the  above,  with  a 
change  of  names  only.  Thus  the  whole  outfil  seem-  to 
be  a  horror,  ed  concern. 

[n  speaking  of  the  forgeries,  Mr.  Taylor  says:    "I 
bius  did  not  hesitate  to  write  anything  which  would  re- 
dound to  the  benefit  of  the  church,  nor  to  an) 
truth  which  seemed  injurious  to  it."    Eusebius,  in  lament 
big  the  unsettled  condition  of  the                ays:    "What 
was  orthodox  on<                          the    nexi       We    make 


138  Commentaries  on   Hebrew 

creeds  at  one  time  to  be  destroyed  a  little  later,  and  in  this 
our  zeal,  we  are  destroying  each  other." 

He  might  have  added  that  the  factions  were  constantly 
changing  places  with  each  other;  that  those  who  were 
hunted,  banished,  and  tortured  as  heretics  one  day,  be- 
came orthodox  the  next  day,  and  in  turn  persecuted  their 
opponents. 

Hudibras  strikes  the  keynote  by  saying: 

"What  makes  all  doctrines  plain  and  clear? 
About  two-hundred  pounds  a  year. 
And  that  which  was  proved  true  before, 
Proved  false  again?    Two  hundred  more." 

Le  Clerc,  in  his  "Criticisms  of  the  Epistles,"  claims  that 
he  has  proven  beyond  question  that  the  Platonism  of 
Fhilo  was  borrowed,  and  constitutes  the  foundation  and 
the  entire  structure  of  Christianity. 

Basnage  (Histoire  des  Juifs)  has  clearly  shown  that  the 
theological  works  of  Philo  were  composed  before  or 
about  the  time  of  the  alleged  birth  of  Christ. 

The  Cross,  the  Trinity,  and  the  Creed,  Were  of  Pagan 

Origin. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Taylor,  in  speaking  of  the  Christian  sign 
of  salvation,  says:  "It  should  never  be  forgotten  that  the 
sign  of  the  cross,  for  ages  anterior  to  the  Augustan  era, 
was  in  common  use  among  the  Gentiles,  that  it  was  the 
most  sacred  symbol  of  Egyptian  idolatry,  that  it  has  been 
found  on  most  of  the  Egyptian  obelisks,  and  that  it  was 
believed  to  possess  all  the  devil-expelling  virtues  which 
have  since  been  ascribed  to  it  by  the  Christians."  The 
posts  set  up  along  the  Nile,  to  which  were  attached  cross 


And  Christian  Mythology.  139 

beams  to  indicate  high-water  mark,  became  objects  of 
worship  by  the  ignorant  Eg)  ptians.  Jupiter  bore  a  cross 
with  a  rani's  horn,  and  Venus  a  cross  with  a  circle. 

Rev.  Mr.  McClintock,  in  his  Cyclopaedia,  adds  his  sanc- 
tion to  the  above,  by  asserting  that:  "The  cross  was  in 
general  use  as  a  sign  of  divinity  and  eternal  life,  among 
several  ancient  nations.  It  was  used  in  the  Temple  of 
Serapis,  and  found  in  the  hands  of  Isis,  Iseris,  and  other 
divinities;  it  was  found  by  Laird  on  the  sculptures  of 
Korsbad  and  Ximroud,  it  was  carved  on  the  walls  of  the 
temples  of  India,  and  was  in  common  use  among  the 
Britons,  Gauls,  Scandinavians,  and  Phoenicians;  and  the 
early  use  of  the  cross  among  the  Christians  was  emble- 
matic of  the  vine,  the  fish,  and  the  lamb." 

From  the  time  of  Constantine  to  near  the  close  of  the 
sixth  century,  the  Christian  cross  bore  the  emblem  of  a 
lamb,  which  became  an  object  of  worship  by  the  faithful 
until  680,  when  by  a  decree  of  the  general  Council  of  Con- 
stantinople, the  image  of  a  man  was  substituted  and  the 
further  use  of  the  sheep  was  prohibited. 

These  signs  seem  to  indicate  that  there  never  was  a  real 
man  crucified.  The  lamb,  the  vine,  and  the  fish,  accord- 
ing to  the  Rev.  Mr.  McClintock,  were  emblematic  of  sal- 
vation and  eternal  life.  Such  was  the  use  to  which  the 
cross  was  put  by  nearly  all  the  pagan  nations. 

When  the  Christians  copied  and  adopted  the  pagan 
rules,  practices,  ceremonies,  and  religions,  the)  also 
adopted  the  1  ross,  and  then  b)  de  igned  its  use  to  be  the 
same  as  with  the  pagan  nations. 

to  the  Trinity,!  lupin ("BibliothequeEcclesiastique") 
says:  "The  word  triad,  or  trinity,  was  borrowed  from 
the  pagan  schools  of  philosophy,  and  introduced  into  the 
theology  of  the  Christians  of  the  middle  <>i  the  second 


14  U  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

century,  by  Theophilus,  Bishop  of  Antioch."  The  trinity  of 
Plato,  says  the  author  of  the  notes  to  Gibbon,  was  closely 
followed  by  Philo  and  St.  John;  and  the  idea  of  the  three 
persons  forming  one  essence  or  trinity  in  the  Platonic 
philosophy  is  precisely  the  same  as  that  in  the  Christian 
theology.  Among  the  early  Christians,  the  Arian  faction 
accused  the  orthodox  party  of  borrowing  their  trinity 
from  the  Valentinians  and  Marcionites,  so  says  Beau- 
sobre  ("Histoire  du  Manicheisme"). 

Among  the  fathers  of  the  church,  a  dispute  arose  as  to 
the  third  person  who  should  go  in  the  make-up  of  the 
triad,  a  respectable  minority  insisting  that  Mary  should 
have  the  place,  but  the  matter  was  compromised  by  giving 
her  a  position  at  the  right  hand  of  her  son,  and  assigning 
the  third  place  to  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Mr.  Taylor,  in  speaking  of  the  Eclectics,  who  had  their 
school  at  Alexandria,  says:  "The  most  indubitable  testi- 
monies prove  that  their  philosophy  was  in  a  flourishing 
state  at  the  period  assigned  to  the  birth  of  Christ,  that  the 
Eclectics  were  the  same  as  the  Therapeuts,  or  Essenes  of 
Philo,  and  in  every  rational  sense  that  can  be  attached  to 
the  word,  they  are  the  real  authors  and  founders  of  Chris- 
tianity." 

The  disciples  of  Plato,  says  Augustine,  admitted  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  as  containing  an  exact 
transcript  of  their  own  principles. 

Origen,  one  if  not  the  most  distinguished  of  the  early 
Christian  leaders  and  writers,  was  born  184  and  died  257 
A.  C.  He  taught  that  Christianity  and  paganism  were 
one  and  the  same,  with  a  common  source. 

The  pious  Lardner  says  of  Origen:  "He  undoubtedly 
was  the  most  distinguished,  wisest,  greatest,  and  best  man 
that  was  ever  engaged  in  promoting  Christianity." 


And  Christian  JJytholoyy.  141 

Mr.  Taylor  says  of  him  that  he  was  the  first  author  who 
gave  us  a  distinct  catalogue  of  the  Xew  Testament :  "The 
sacred  text  owes  its  felicity  to  the  criticisms  and  emenda- 
tions of  Origen,  who  pruned  excrescences,  exscinded  the 
most  glaring  contradictions,  inserted  whole  verses  of  his 
own  pure  ingenuity  and  conjecture;  and  diligently 
labored,  by  claiming  for  the  whole  a  mystical  and  alle- 
gorical sense,  to  rescue  it  from  the  contempt  of  the  wise, 
and  to  moderate  its  excitement  on  the  minds  of  the  vul- 
gar." This  author  further  says:  "It  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  this  wisest,  greatest,  and  best  man  that  ever  bore  the 
Christian  name,  relapsed  at  last  into  paganism,  and  wor- 
shiped the  idols  of  his  ancestors." 

The  reason  why  Origen  renounced  Christianity  after  a 
life  spent  in  its  support  may  be  told  as  follows: 

Celsus,  one  of  Rome's  greatest  historians  and  most  pro- 
found reasoners,  during  the  reign  of  Hadrian,  117  to  138 
A.  C,  published  two  books  of  criticisms  on  Christianity, 
in  which  he  clearly  demonstrated  the  absurdity    of   the 
Christian  doctrines  and  claims.    Following  which,  and  as 
a  matter  of  history,  he  proved,  fr<  »m  Christian  sources  and 
church  documents,  thai  Mary  procured  a  divorce  from 
her  husband,  and  while  wandering  aboul  Judea,  fell  in 
with  .'i  Roman  soldier  by  the  name  of  Panthera,  who 
was  the  real  father  of  Christ;  thai  the  boy,  being  in  desti- 
tute circumstances,  wenl  down  into    Egypl    to  procure 
employment;  thai  while  there  he  fell  in  with  Egyptian 
lers,  from  win  mi  he  le.-nncd  the  art  of  working  pre- 
tended miracles;  thai  on  his  return  to  Judea  he  sel  up  a 
claim  to  the  Messiahship,  which   he  supported  by  his 
•-•in  of  miracle  workings,  and  thai  hi 
1  miracli  performed  privately  in  out-of-the 


142  Commentaries  on  Hebreio 

way  places,  to  slaves,  women,  and  children,  of  the  most 
ignorant  class. 

In  the  original  Talmud  the  name  of  Christ  several  times 
appears,  where  he  is  always  spoken  of  as  the  son  of  Pan- 
thera. 

Celsus  was  a  pagan  author  of  the  highest  order,  who 
had  within  his  grasp  all  the  then  obtainable  evidence  per- 
taining to  the  church  and  its  founder.  While  Celsus  ex- 
pressed serious  doubts  as  to  the  real  existence  of  Christ, 
but  assuming  on  church  authority  or  claims  that  such  a 
man  did  live,  he,  Celsus,  presented  his  facts  from  church 
sources  so  clearly,  and  made  his  arguments  so  forcible 
and  conclusive,  as  to  put  the  church  on  the  defensive. 
Many  of  the  most  able  w-riters  came  to  the  rescue,  and 
among  them  Origen,  whose  attacks  were  conducted  with 
his  usual  force  and  skill;  but  in  the  end,  instead  of  con- 
verting the  followers  of  Celsus  to  Christianity,  he  himself 
became  convinced  that  Christianity  was  not  only  absurd 
in  theory,  but  false  in  fact  and  founded  on  fraud,  of  which 
the  fathers  of  the  church  were  the  authors. 

Having  been  convinced  of  all  this,  Origen  was  too  hon- 
est, too  frank,  and  too  sincere  to  continue  an  advocate  of 
so  false  a  system.  So  he  renounced  the  faith  and  returned 
to  the  philosophical  teachings  of  the  old  Platonic  school. 

The  Apocryphal  and  Lost  Gospels. 

From  what  has  hereinbefore  been  shown  we  have 
learned  about  when  and  from  what  source  came  the  writ- 
ings now  contained  in  the  Bible,  and  we  have  also  learned 
that  a  large  majority  of  the  so-called  sacred  writings  were 
i  nally  rejected  by  councils  and  authors  and  compilers  of 
the  Bible.  Many  of  these  rejected  writings  have  entirely 
disappeared.    Among  the  lost  ones,  we  have  a  list,  now 


And  Christian  Mythology.  143 

known  to  us  only  through  the  works  of  commentators. 
But  there  is  still  a  large  list  now  extant,  generally  known 
as  apocryphal,  to  each  of  which  has  been  attached  the 
name  of  some  supposed  author,  a  name  said  to  be  falsely 
ascribed — forged,  these  documents  being  characterized 
as  pseudepigraphous.  We  find  sixteen  Old  Testament 
documents  not  in  the  Bible,  which  are  now  lost,  and  eight- 
een such  documents,  denominated  apocryphal,  now  ex- 
tant. 

As  to  the  Xew  Testament  Christian  writings,  we  find 
sixty-seven  lost  documents  which  were  commented  upon 
during  the  first  four  centuries,  and  forty-two  such  writ- 
ings generally  characterized  as  apocryphal,  which  have 
come  down  to  our  time.  As  the  names  or  titles  of  these 
documents  seem  a  little  odd,  for  the  edification  of  the  de- 
vout, we  here  append  a  few  of  them. 

Among  the  lost  documents  we  find  an  Epistle  of  Christ, 
some  books  under  the  name  of  Christ,  an  Epistle  of 
Christ  to  Peter,  also  one  to  Paul;  a  Hymn  of  Christ,  a 
Gospel  of  Eve  a  Gospel  of  Judas  [scariot,  a  Gospel  of 
Matthias,  a  Tradition  of  Matthias,  a  ( ri  »spel  of  Nazarenes, 
a  Gospel  of  Paul,  a  Revelation  of  Paul,  a  Gospel  of  Per- 
fection, a  Gospel  of  Peter,  Revelation  of  Peter,  a  Gospel 
of  Titian,  a  Gospel  of  the  Nativity  <>f  Mary.  He. 

Among  the  extanl  apocryphal  writings,  we  find  letters 
of  Abgaras  to  Chrisl  and  <  !hrist's  answer  thereto;  a  <  ros- 
pel  of  Pilate,  Apprehension  of  Pilate,  Death  <>f  Pilate, 
first  Epistle  of  Pilate,  the  I  ><  scenl  of  <  Ihrisl  into  I  [ell,  etc. 

[t  must  be  remembered  thai  the  above  list  comprises 
onl)  a  few  <>f  the  numerous  documents  which  wenl  to 
make  up  the  pile  of  debris,  or  rubbi  ih,  oui  of  which  the 
Xew  'IV -lament  writings  were  selected,  and  it  must  nol 
be  forgotten  thai    all  of   these    writings    had  the  same 


114  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

origin,  and  were  entitled  to  equal  credit — all  founded  on 
tradition,  i.  e.,  idle  stories  afloat,  handed  down  from 
mouth  to  mouth,  each  new  recipient,  on  re-telling  the 
story,  giving  his  own  version  and  rounding  off  the  tale 
with  such  new  matters  as  were  likely  to  be  most  edifying 
to  the  listener. 

A  few  extracts  from  the  apocryphal  gospels  will  now 
be  in  order,  which  we  take  from  William  Nones' 
Apocryphal  New  Testament. 

The  Gospel  of  Nicodemus. 

Opening  scene:  A  great  light  appeared  in  hell.  Simon 
arrives.  Satan  notifies  the  prince  of  hell  to  prepare  to  see 
Christ  on  the  threshold,  admits  to  the  prince  that  he  got 
up  the  accusation  that  brought  Christ  to  trial  and  death. 
Then  follows  a  quarrel  between  Satan  and  the  prince  of 
darkness  over  the  threatened  invasion  of  Hades  by  Christ. 
While  the  quarrel  is  in  full  blast,  "on  a  sudden  there  is  a 
voice  as  of  thunder  and  the  rushing  of  winds,  saying,  Lift 
up  your  gates,  O  ye  prince,  and  be  ye  lift  up,  O  everlast- 
ing gates,  and  the  King  of  Glory  shall  come  in."  The 
prince  becomes  alarmed  and  orders  Satan  out  to  take  sides 
with  Christ.  No  sooner  is  Satan  out  than  the  prince  shuts 
and  fastens  the  brass  gates,  and  orders  his  officers  to  pre- 
pare to  defend  their  abode.  The  devil's  saints  now  trem- 
ble and  implore  the  prince  to  open  the  gates  and  let  the 
King  of  Glory  in.  Here  David  and  Isaiah  come  into  the 
play  and  notify  the  imps  of  darkness  that  they  had  fore- 
told all  these  things,  that  the  dead  and  damned  should  live 
again. 

Isaiah  says:  "Did  I  not  in  my  prophecy  say,  O  death 
where  is  thy  sting,  O  grave  where  is  thy  victory?"  Hear- 
ing this,  all  the  saints  call  aloud  to  the  prince  to  open  the 


And  Christian  Mythology.  145 

gates  and  save  himself  from  being  taken  prisoner.  The 
prince  wants  to  know  who  it  is  that  makes  this  imperious 
demand.  David  answers  and  says,  It  is  the  King  of  Glory, 
who  has  come  to  release  the  damned.  David  here  gets 
into  a  temper  and  calls  out,  saying:  "Thou  filthy  and 
stinking  prince  of  hell,  open  thy  gates  that  the  King  of 
Glory  may  enter  in,  for  he  is  the  Lord  of  heaven  and 
earth."  Now  the  Lord  appears  in  the  form  of  a  man  and 
lights  up  the  pit  of  darkness,  walks  in,  and  at  once  breaks 
the  fetters  which  have  so  long  held  the  descendants  of 
Adam  in  prison.  The  officers  of  hell  are  seized  with  fear 
and  call  to  know  who  this  invader  is,  and  why  he  has  come 
to  loosen  the  chains  of  the  damned  and  light  up  the  re- 
gions of  darkness.  "Then  the  King  of  Glory,  trampling 
upon  death,  seizes  the  prince  of  hell,  deprives  him  of  all 
power  and  takes  Adam  with  him  to  glory." 

1 1  ere  the  scene  changes.  The  prince  upbraids  Satan  for 
bringing  Christ  to  hell,  and  says  to  him  that  Jesus  has 
opened  hell  and  celeased  all  the  prisoners.  "O  Satan, 
prince  of  the  wicked,  keeper  of  the  infernal  regions,  all  the 
advantage  which  to  thou  did  accrue  by  the  forbidden  tree 
and  the  loss  of  Paradise,  thou  hast  now  lost  by  the  wood 
of  the  cross." 

While  this  wrangle  is  going  on  Christ  says  to  the 
prince:  "You  shall  now  be  subject  to  the  dominion  of 
Satan  forever,  in  the  room  of  Adam  and  his  righteous 
sons,  who  are  mine."  The  scene  in  lull  here  closes,  when 
us  stret  hes  forth  his  hand  and  says,  Come  to  me,  all 
ye  mv  saint-,  who  were  created  in  my  image,  who  were 
condemned  by  the  tree  of  the  forbidden  fruit  and  b\  the 
devil  and  death."  B)  this  he  declares  death  to  be  con 
quered.  All  here  join  hands.  Chrisl  mal  es  the  sign  of  the 
cross  on  Adam,  takes  him  by  the  hand,  all  then  join  hand 


14G  Commentaries  on  Hebreio 

and  leave  the  prince  of  darkness  the  sole  occupant  of  hell. 
Christ  here  turns  Adam  and  his  posterity  over  to  Michael, 
the  archangel,  when  they  meet  Enoch  and  Elijah  and  the 
two  thieves  who  died  with  Christ. 

The  Gospel  of  the  Infancy  of  Christ. 

In  this  gospel  it  appears  that  the  mother  gave  birth  to 
Christ  in  a  cave  at  Bethlehem,  attended  by  a  midwife, 
after  which  she  is  presented  with  valuable  gifts  by  great 
men.  In  turn  she  gives  them  one  of  the  child's  swaddling 
cloths,  which  cures  all  their  infirmities.  At  the  bidding  of 
an  angel,  Joseph  takes  the  mother  and  son  down  into 
Egypt,  where  they  roam  about  from  town  to  town  per- 
forming wonderful  cures.  All  afflicted  persons  who 
fondle  or  touch  the  infant  are  at  once  cured  of  maladies. 
While  stopping  at  an  inn,  the  mother  washed  and  hung 
out  to  dry  a  swaddling  cloth  of  the  baby.  A  poor  fellow 
nigh  unto  death  and  filled  with  devils,  accidentally  runs 
his  head  against  the  piece  of  linen  and  is  at  once  cured, 
and  all  the  devils  are  seen  to  rush  out  of  his  mouth.  Wher- 
ever the  triad  go  all  of  the  great  men  and  even  the  idols 
fall  down  and  worship  the  babe.  A  girl  afflicted  with 
leprosy  was  instantly  cured  by  touching  one  of  the  child's 
dirty  linens.  This  child  caused  a  plentiful  supply  of  water 
to  gush  out  of  a  tree.  After  the  return  of  the  triad  to 
Judea,  Christ  in  play  with  other  children  performed  such 
wonders  that  he  got  the  title  of  king;  he  made  mud  cattle 
and  birds  and  caused  them  to  run  and  eat  and  the  birds  to 
fly.  When  his  father  made  mistakes  in  his  work  and  got 
his  doors,  gates,  and  windows  too  short,  the  child  at  a 
touch  gave  them  the  proper  length.  In  play,  a  boy  ran 
against  Christ  and  knocked  him  down;  when  on  his  feet 


And  Christum  Mythology.  147 

again,  he  threatened  the  boy  that  when  he  went  down  he 
never  would  rise  again ;  the  boy  fell  down  and  died. 

In  short,  Christ's  whole  life  from  the  cradle  is  one  of 
miracles. 

Of  the  fourteen  epistles  contained  in  William  Nones' 
"Apocryphal  New  Testament,"  the  author  says  that  Arch- 
bishop Wake  (the  translator)  tells  us  that  they  contain  a 
full  and  complete  collection  of  all  the  genuine  writings 
that  remain  to  us  of  the  most  primitive  apostolic  fathers, 
that  can  with  any  certainty  be  depended  upon.  In  the 
number  he  is  mistaken,  for  wc  have  forty-two.  Assuming 
this  to  be  true,  we  ask  why  they  were  rejected?  The 
answer  is  obvious.  They  proved  too  much  for  the  success 
of  the  church. 

And  why  was  the  Gospel  of  Nicodcmus  rejected?  It 
was  one  of  the  earliest  gospels.  Did  it,  too,  prove  too 
much?  Was  it  rejected  because  it  was  not  in  the  interest 
of  the  church  to  propagate  the  doctrine  that  those  who 
died  before  Christ  and  the  church  existed  were  saved? 
This  reason,  to  say  tin-  [east,  is  plausible  and  in  full  accord 
with  the  acts  of  the  church.  After  this  gospel  had  been 
used  and  believed  in  by  the  church  until  the  close  of  the 
fourth  century,  it  OUghl  to  have  found  a  place  in  the 
Canon,    ft  is  SO  full  of  dramatic  life,  its  scenes  are  so  deli- lit 

fully  portrayed,  it  would  have  afforded  such  a  field  for  the 
display  of  penl  mythological  energ)  and  eloquence,  as 
well  as  supremely  edifying  to  the  devoul  listener.  Whal 
a  clapping  of  hands  would  have  followed  the  portrayal  of 

(  hrist's  takim;  \dani  bj  the  hand  and  leading  him  out  of 
hell,  followed  bj  'lie  countless  millions  of  liberated 
joining  hands  in  a  siring,  ij^,.  ,-,  ,, ,  ,,,,,,,  ,-(|]  marching  oul 
of  the  realm-  of  darkness  to  |oin  the  saints  in  eternal 


148  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

glory,  leaving  the  poor  devil  solitary  and  alone  until  the 
arrival  of  the  next  crop  of  unbelievers. 

What  Do  We  Know  of  Peter  and  the  Apostles  ? 

Peter  Simon,  or  Simon  Peter,  or  Symeon  are  different 
names  applied  to  the  founder  of  the  dynasty  of  the  long 
line  of  popes. 

Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke  differ  as  to  his  nativity,  and 
the  accounts  of  his  discipleship  are  as  various. 

The  "Acts  of  Peter"  have  been  shown  by  Baur, 
Schwegler,  Ovcrbeck,  Zeller,  and  others  to  be  spurious. 
Peter,  Paul,  and  Simon  Magus  are  very  much  mixed  up, 
they  are  believed  by  some  critics  to  be  legendary  charac- 
ters. Peter  and  Paul  are  traced,  in  New  Testament  writ- 
ings, to  Antioch,  where  a  quarrel  takes  place  between 
them,  "which  is  the  last  that  is  certainly  known  of  Peter" 
(Encyclopaedia  Britannica).  "Tradition  assigns  Peter  to  a 
violent  death."  But  of  the  time  and  place  of  his  death  we 
know  nothing.  Nothing  more  is  said  about  him  for  over 
a  hundred  years,  when  Clement  of  Rome  barely  alludes 
to  a  Peter,  claimed  to  be  the  Apostle. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  second  century,  tradition  asso- 
ciates Paul  and  Peter  as  the  founders  of  a  church  at 
Corinth,  and  takes  them  from  there  to  Rome,  where  they 
found  a  second  church. 

This  tradition  seems  to  have  originated  with  Eusebius 
and  Irenaeus.  The  Muratorian  Fragments  of  the  second 
century  refer  to  the  martyrdom  of  Peter.  A  second  and 
a  third  tradition  pick  up  Peter  and  dispose  of  him  in  differ- 
ent ways. 

One  tradition  finds  Peter  working  at  Antioch,  at  Baby- 
lon, and  among  the  barbarians  at  the  north  of  the  Black- 
sea,  while  the  other  takes  him  to  Rome  and  then  inextri- 


And  Christian  Mythology.  149 

cablv  mixes  him  up  in  the  legendary  character  of  Simon 
Magus.  The  Jewish  and  gentile  factions,  in  the  second 
century,  constructed  a  legend  of  romance  making  Peter 
the  hero,  and  Paul,  as  Simon  Magus,  a  false  apostle  (see 
Encyclopaedia  Britannica). 

All  of  the  legends  and  historical  romance  concerning 
Peter  originated  late  in  the  second  century,  doubtless 
among  the  church  fathers  who  borrowed  their  materials 
from  the  alleged  writings  of  the  apostolic  fathers.  As  the 
writings  of  the  apostolic  fathers  have  been  proven  to  be 
forgeries,  as  we  will  herein  show,  the  legends  and  romance 
founded  thereon  necessarily  fall  to  the  ground,  leaving  us 
without  any  evidence  whatever  that  such  a  man  as  Peter 
ever  lived. 

The  Twelve  Apostles. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Catholic  church  claims 
that  Christ  selected  only  Peter,  and  that  Peter  selected  the 
other  Apostles. 

(  )f  the  history  of  the  Apostles,  says  the  writer  in  the 
clopaedia  Britannica,  "we  have  almost  no  authentic 
knowledge  beyond  whal  is  stated  in  the  New  Testament." 
As  all   of  the   Xew  Testament   writings   touching   the 
ties  have  been  pri  >ven  to  be  forgeries,  we  are  left  with- 
out any  knowledge  whatever  thai  any  Apostles  were  ever 
appointed  or  that  any  single  one  of  the  alleged  twelve  ever 
ted.    Unreliable  tradition  and  legends  came  to  their 
aid. 

The  Apostolic  Fathers  and  Their  Writings. 

"Apostolic  fathers"  is  the  name  given  to  certain  <  !hris- 
tian  writers  of  the  eai  I  »d  of  <  Christianity  of  wh<  >m 

it  was  believed,  and  maintained  by  the  church,  that  they 


150  Commentaries  on    Ihlirmo 

were  contemporaries  and  associates  of  the  twelve 
Apostles,  and  that  their  writings  were  of  the  first  century. 
There  were  five  of  them:  Clemens  Romanus,  Ignatius, 
I  'i  >1  yearp,  Barnabas,  and  Hernias. 

Of  Clemens  Romanus,  nothing  whatever  outside  of 
vague  tradition  is  known.  Of  his  birth,  life,  and  doings 
we  have  nought  but  conjecture.  Eusebius,  who  is  never 
reliable,  claims  for  the  episcopate  of  Romanus  the  years 
93  to  101.  Romanus'  writings,  as  claimed  by  the  church, 
consist  of  one  epistle  from  the  Roman  church  to  the 
Corinthian,  urging  a  peaceful  settlement  of  affairs.  Dio- 
nysius  is  the  first  to  assign  the  authorship  of  this  epistle  to 
Romanus,  and  gives  it  date  at  96  or  97  A.  C.  But  the  crit- 
ics deny  this  authorship  and  pronounce  the  epistle  a 
forgery  of  the  latter  half  of  the  second  century. 

As  to  Ignatius,  Eusebius,  who  was  always  ready  to 
suppress  the  truth  when  against  the  church  and  to  falsify 
in  its  favor,  says,  as  the  story  goes,  Ignatius  suffered 
martyrdom  y$  to  101  A.  C.  Origen,  the  most  reliable  of 
the  church  fathers,  refers  to  this  tradition  and  places 
Ignatius'  death  at  109  A.  C.  Jerome  places  Ignatius 
among  the  disciples  of  John.  All  that  is  really  known  or 
claimed  to  be  known  of  him  comes  through  disputed 
epistles.  Even  Eusebius,  in  his  day,  pronounced  eight 
out  of  the  fifteen  epistles  ascribed  to  Ignatius,  forgeries. 
Bunsen,  Baur,  and  numerous  other  critics  dispute  the  gen- 
uineness of  all  of  these  epistles,  and  say  they  were  written 
in  the  second  arid  third  centuries.  The  writer  in  Cham- 
bers' Encyclopaedia  says  that  all  of  the  epistles  ascribed  to 
Ignatius  are  now  universally  recognized  as  bare  for- 
geries. 

Of  the  time,  place  of  birth,  and  death  of  Polycarp  little 
or  nothing  is  known.      The  writer  in  Chambers'  Ency- 


And  Christina  Mythology.  151 

clopaedia  thinks  Polvcarp  was  born  about  69  and 
suffered  martyrdom  about  155  A.  C,  and  that  he  was  bish- 
op of  Smyrna.  The  only  writing  that  can  now  be  ascribed 
to  Polycarp  is,  says  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  a 
letter  or  epistle  to  the  Philippians;  and  this  letter  the 
Tubingen  school  says  is  not  genuine. 

As  to  Barnabas,  nothing  whatever  is  known  of  him. 
There  has  come  down  to  us  a  work  called  the  epistle  of 
Barnabas,  generally  ascribed  to  him  by  the  early  fathers. 
"The  internal  evidence  is  conclusive  against  its  genuine- 
ness," says  the  writer  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 
There  is  no  clew  to  its  date;  some  assign  it  to  119  and  126 
A.C. 

The  writer  in  Chambers'  Encyclopaedia  says  that  the 
epistles  of  twenty-one  chapters  ascribed  to  Barnabas  bear 
the  strongest  internal  evidence  of  being  an  Alexandrian 
forgery  of  the  second  century  made  to  strengthen  tfhe 
church. 

As  to  Hernias,  when  and  where  he  was  born  and  died 
we  have  mi  eviden 

As  to  ln's  writings,  "The  Pastor  of  Hermas,"  a  book 
ascribed  to  him,  has  come  down  to  our  time  and  is  believed 
to  hav<-  been  written  aboul  [40  to  1  50  A.  ( '.  The  modern 
critics  t<ll  us  thai  the  book  is  fictitious  in  form  and  that 
tlrere  i-  no  good  reason  for  supposing  thai  the  author 
intended  t<»  introduce  any  real  character  into  it.   The  name 

of  <  hri>t   due-  not   appear  in   it.      [renaeus  and   (lenient 

quote  the  book  a-  inspired.  The  writer  in  the  Muratorian 
•hat  Hermas  wrote  tlhe  book  aboul 
the  middle  of  the  second  century  (see  <  liambers'  Encyclo- 
paedia). In  concluding  tin-  branch  of  our  inquiries  we 
would  sa)  thai  as  our  information  concerning  the  ape 
ic  father-  comes  only  from  their  alleged  writings,  which 


152  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

have  been  shown  to  be  forgeries  ("The  Pastor  of  Hernias" 
excepted),  we  are  left  without  any  evidence  that  any  of 
these  men  ever  lived  (excepting,  possibly,  Hermas). 

Thus  it  seems  that  the  church  was  engaged  in  the  gen- 
eral occupation  of  forging  documents  to  prop  up  and 
support  its  false  claims  to  a  pernicious  system  of  religion 
during  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  centuries. 

On  the  foregoing  evidence  the  case  stands  thus:  Christ 
a  myth;  the  twelve  Apostles  shadows;  Peter  a  fiction; 
Paul  a  sphinx;  the  apostolic  fathers  ideal  beings;  their 
alleged  writings  forgeries;  the  New  Testament  writings 
spurious;  the  church  a  gigantic  fraud. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  church,  as  long  as  it  had  the 
power,  put  to  death  all  persons  who  attempted  to  investi- 
gate its  origin? 

ApoIIonius  of   Tyana. 

Did  the  Christian  fathers  steal  the  biography  of  this 
man  ApoIIonius,  and  attach  to  it  a  mythical  head  called 
Jesus  Christ?  It  is  so  charged  by  respectable  authority; 
while  on  the  other  hand,  some  learned  Christian  writers 
charge  plagiarism  on  ApoIIonius,  or  on  his  biographer, 
Philostratus. 

In  all  the  writings  concerning  this  man,  including  the 
English  and  American  Encyclopaedias,  it  is  conceded  that 
ApoIIonius  was  a  real  man,  a  Cappadocian,  born  about  4 
to  6  years  P>.  C,  a  man  of  great  learning,  a  sage,  a  teacher, 
and  a  disciple  of  Pythagoras,  and  that  he  traveled  all  over 
the  Roman  world  and  into  China  and  India.  By  the  same 
authority  it  is  also  admitted  that  one  Damis  became  his, 
ApoIIonius',  life  companion,  traveled  with  him  as  his 
amanuensis,  taking  notes  of  his  master's  sayings  and  do- 
ings, and  that  Philostratus,  a  Grecian     historian,  born 


And  Christian  Mythology.  153 

about  i So  A.  C,  at  the  request  of  the  Emperor  Septimus 
rusor  his  wife,  wrote  the  life  of  Apollonius  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  second  century.  And  by  the  same  authori- 
ties it  is  conceded  that  Apollonius  did  perform  what  ap- 
peared to  be  miracles,  similar  to  those  credited  to  Jesus 
Christ,  such  as  healing  the  sick,  opening  the  eyes  of  the 
blind,  raising  the  dead,  etc.,  and  that  he  performed  these 
things,  not  by  any  pretended  divine  authority,  but  by 
force  of  power  within  himself  and  as  a  philosopher.  All 
of  this  has  been  conceded  by  Christian  writers,  and  that 
the  life  of  Apollonius,  as  written  by  Philostratus,  runs  in 
most  respects  in  the  same  grooves  and  parallel  with  the 
life  of  Christ  as  given  in  the  four  gospels  and  that  the  mir- 
acles, or  seeming  miracles,  are  substantially  alike  in 
the  two  cases.  The  dispute  arises  where  the  claim 
to  the  genuineness  of  the  miracles  comes  in,  and  as  to 
which  of  the  parties  was  guilt>  of  plagiarism,  or,  in 
other  words,  stealing  the  biograph)  of  the  other  party. 
This  must  be  determined  to  some  extent  by  the  age  or 
time  when  the  four  gospels  and  Philostratus'  history  were 
written  and  published  to  the  world,  for  neither  party  can 
be  supposed  to  have  knowledge  of  the  writings  of  the 
other  until  their  publication. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  show  that  Philostratus  wrote 

and  published  his  biography  of  Apollonius  in  the  early 

of  die  third  century,  and  that  the  four  gospels  were 

unknown  for  a  long  time  thereafter.    That  thes< 
arc  spurious  I  been  sh<  >wn. 

Tt  will  be  first  in  order  to  show  what  the  authorities 

have   to   Sa)    about    Apollonius.       The     pious     Cudworth 

charges  th*-  pagans  with  procuring  Philostratus  to  write 
up  the  pretended  miracles  of  Vpolloniu  a  a  parallel  to 
tho  e  of  ( !hrist.    'I  in-  Rev.  I  »r.  Pari  er,  ol  I  ngland,  in 


151  Commentaries  on   Hebrew 

1GS1  frequently  admitted  that  Apollonius  was  a  great 
man,  who  worked  apparent  miracles  to  the  surprise  of  the 
most  learned  of  men. 

The  writer  in  EncvelopaedTa  Britannica  says  that  Apol- 
lonius was  a  Pythagorean  philosopher,  born  at  Tyana 
shortly  before  Christ;  that  he  traveled  over  Asia;  that  the 
greatest  reverence  was  paid  to  him  everywhere,  especially 
by  the  priests;  that  in  Greece  and  Rome  he  astonished  the 
magistrates  by  curing  the  sick  and  raising  the  dead ;  that 
he  was  worshiped  for  centuries  after  death,  and  that  his 
statue  was  placed  among  those  of  the  Gods. 

The  writer  in  the  "Cyclopaedia  of  Biblical  and  Ecclesias- 
tical Literature,"  a  devout  Christian,  reluctantly  says  of 
Apollonius,  after  calling  him  an  impostor,  that  he  was 
born  at  Cappadocia  about  4  years  B.  C. ;  that  he  studied 
with  Pythagoras,  traveled  all  over  the  Roman  world, 
went  to  India  and  China;  that  he  obtained  vast  influence 
among  the  learned  men;  that  he  died,  with  a  reputation 
of  sanctity,  in  the  first  century;  that  about  one  and  a 
quarter  centuries  after  his  death,  210  A.  C,  in  the  reign  of 
Septimus  Severus  and  at  the  request  of  the  emperor's 
wife,  Philostratus,  from  the  notes  of  Damis,  wrote  the  life 
of  Apollonius,  and  thereby  paved  the  way  for  the  general 
reception  of  the  story  among  the  cultivated  classes  of 
Rome  and  Greece;  that  the  memoirs  of  Apollonius  are  in 
so  many  points  a  parody  on  the  life  of  Christ;  and  that  the 
annunciation  of  his  birth  to  his  mother,  the  chorus  of  the 
swans  which  sang  for  joy  on  the  occurrence,  the  casting 
out  of  devils,  raising  the  dead,  healing  the  sick,  the  sudden 
disappearance  and  reappearance  of  Apollonius,  the  voice 
which  called  him  at  death,  and  his  claim  to  be  a  teacher, 
with  authority  to  reform  the  world,  form  some  of  the 
points  of  similarity. 


And  Christian   Mythology.  155 

Rev.  Mr.  McClintock,  in  saving  that  Philostratus  wrote 
the  history  of  Apollonius  from  the  notes  of  Damis,  sup- 
pressed part  of  the  truth,  to  wit,  that  it  appears  on  the 
face  of  the  history  that  the  author  used  not  only  the  notes 
of  Damis,  but  also  numerous  letters  written  by  Apollo- 
nius, which  were  found  in  the  palace  of  Emperor  Hadrian, 
also  narratives  written  by  Maximus,a  friend  and  associate 
of  Apollonius.  Philostratus  not  only  took  his  authority 
from  original  writings,  but  wrote  by  request  of  the 
emperor's  wife,  as  he  was  a  confidant  of  the  emperor; 
while  the  materials  used  in  the  four  gospels,  giving  the 
life  of  Christ,  were  handed  down  by  tradition  for  a  cent- 
ury, and  then  taken  third-,  fourth-,  and  fifth-hand  from 
unknown  sources,  and  written  by  unknown  authors.  On 
this  state  of  the  case,  who  can  doubt  that  the  history  of 
Apollonius  is  entitled  to  more  credit  than  the  history  of 
Christ? 

In  the  early  part  of  the  fourth  century,  306  A.  C,  Hier- 
ocles,  then  Governor  of  Alexandria,  wrote  two  books 
against  Christianity,  in  which  he  showed  that  the  script- 
ures by  their  own  contradictions  destroyed  themselves, 
and  maintained  that  Apollonius  excelled  Christ  in  mir- 
To  these  criticisms  (  >rigen  replied  with  eight  bo<  »ks, 
;  wing  the  life  of  Apollonius,  in  which  he  does  not 
question  the  sources  or  credibility  of  1  'hilostratus'  hist  try, 
or  pretend  thai  it  was  taken  from  Christian  soun 

A train,  what  objecl  other  than  to  procure  a  true  history 
Could  the  emperor  or  Philostratus  have  had?  <  hi  the 
other  side,  the  <  Christian  leaders  had  every  interest  to  sus- 
tain their  claim,  as  their  power  and  dominion  depended 

on  it.    Let  it  be  remembered  that  elephants  do  nol  follow- 
in  the  footsteps  of  mice. 
Now  as  to  the  two  men  who  performed  the  miracles — or 


156  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

the  things  which  then  appeared  to  be  miracles,  for  no  real 
miracle  ever  was  performed: 

Apollonius  was  a  learned  man,  a  great  philosopher,  a 
teacher,  and  an  associate  of  the  greatest  and  most  learned 
men  of  Rome;  and  it  was  in  the  presence  of  these  great 
and  influential  men,  including  the  magistrates,  that 
Apollonius  performed  his  miracles ;  while  on  the  Christian 
side  the  man  Christ  was  of  mean,  obscure  birth,  a  carpen- 
ter by  trade,  could  neither  read  nor  write,  and  was  the 
companion  and  associate  of  ignorant  fishermen  in  the 
most  uncultivated  province  of  the  Roman  Empire.  And 
as  to  his  miracles,  or  seeming  miracles,  they  were  per- 
formed in  out-of-the-way  places  in  the  presence  of  boys, 
slaves,  and  ignorant  old  women. 

Philostratus  wrote  his  history  of  Apollonius  in  the  early 
part  of  the  third  century,  210.  It  has  been  shown  that  the 
Christian  gospels,  even  in  a  crude,  unfinished  state,  did 
not  exist  earlier  than  the  latter  half  of  the  third  century, 
and  in  all  probability,  according  to  the  weight  of  author- 
ity, were  unknown  to  the  world  until  a  much  later  date, 
some  authors  say  as  late  as  the  fourth  or  fifth  centuries. 
But  taking  the  earliest  date,  the  latter  half  of  the  third  cent- 
ury, as  the  time  when  the  gospels,  or  life  of  Christ,  first 
appeared  in  an  unfinished  state,  the  history  of  Apollonius 
is  fifty  years  older  than  the  history  of  Christ,  and  as  the 
earlier  could  not  borrow  or  steal  what  did  not  exist,  it  fol- 
lows as  a  necessary  deduction  that,  if  there  was  any  bor- 
rowing or  pirating,  it. was  the  Christians  who  plagiarized 
or  stole  the  writings  of  Philostratus  and  applied  to  them  a 
mythical  head. 

It  will  also  be  remembered  that  we  have  conclusively 
shown  that  the  four  gospels  were  taken  from  pagan  leg- 
ends.    But  whatever  be  the  truth,  the  life  of  Christ,  as 


And  Christian  Mythology.  157 

given  in  the  four  gospels,  might  have  been  copied  or  taken 
in  whole,  or  in  part,  from  Plato,  Philo,  Apollonius,  or 
Pythagoras,  or  from  the  pagan  religions  of  India,  China, 
or  Persia.  The  probability  is,  that  the  Christians  bor- 
rowed from  all  of  them,  including  some  things  from  the 
Hebrews  and  Romans.  On  this  point  the  pious  Mr. 
McClintock  says:  "The  stories  told  by  historians,  of 
Plato,  of  Severus  Tullius,  of  Pythagoras,  of  Alexander,  of 
Scipio  Africanus,  of  Apollonius,  of  Buddha,  and  of  others 
follow  closely  the  gospel  record  of  Christ."  By  reversing 
the  order  of  facts,  this  reverend  gentleman  would  have 
the  unwary  reader  believe  that  all  of  these  great  philoso- 
phers borrowed  their  teachings  from  Christ,  who  was  not 
born  for  hundreds  of  years  after  most  of  them  were  dead. 
This  is  about  as  honest  a  statement  as  can  be  expected 
from  a  clergyman.  Had  he  said  that  the  teachings  of 
Christ  followed  closely  the  records  of  these  philosophers, 
the  fact  would  at  once  have  been  understood  that  the 
Christians  did  the  borrowing. 

It  is  to-day  generally  conceded  among  those  conversant 
with  tical  history  that  the  whole  record  of  Christ, 

from  the  time  of  his  alleged  birth  to  the  time  it  is  said  he 
commenced  to  harangue  the  public,  at  the  age  <>t  aboul 
30,  is  a  base  fabrication,  devoid  of  even  the  semblance  of 
truth ;  and  by  the  same  authority  it  is  reluctantly  admitted 
that  the  record  of  him  after  thai  time  and  up  i<>  the  time 
nf  his  all  th,  stands  upon  little  better  foundation. 

If  the  fathers  of  the  church  were  capable  of  fo 

part  of  the  record,  and  this  fact  ha    been  proven,  maj  il 

not  with  equal  propriety  be  said  thai  the)  werecapabli  of 

ring  the  other  part,  and  thai  as  they  had  the  will  to 

e  the  one,  the    had  the  will  to  forge  the  other?      \nd 

this  forgery  has  nol  only  been  proven,  but  accepted  a    a 


158  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

fact  by  all  the  leading  theological  historians  of  Europe, 
as  we  have  hereinbefore  shown. 

Forged  gospels  and  forged  epistles  adopted  into  the 
sacred  Canon  by  force  and  bribery  have  been  accepted  as 
divine  truth  by  the  Christians  of  the  world. 

The  very  existence  of  such  a  man  as  Christ  is  said  to 
have  been,  was  unknown  to  the  pagan  world,  and  un- 
noticed by  a  single  pagan  writer  (and  there  were  many  of 
them)  until  the  beginning  of  the  second  century,  when  they 
heard  of  him  for  the  first  time,  through  a  class  of  ignorant 
fanatics  calling  themselves  Christians.  Even  the  church 
writers  knew  nothing  of  such  a  man  until  the  second  cent- 
ury after  his  alleged  death,  so  it  is  not  improbable  that, 
while  the  church  fathers  were  in  the  business  of  fabri- 
cating records,  the  very  existence  of  the  man  was  one  of 
the  forgeries. 

The  foregoing  comprise  only  a  few  of  the  numerous 
church  forgeries.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  Roman 
church  as  represented  by  the  papacy  claims  an  unbroken 
line  of  divine  authority  from  Christ  through  Peter  and  so 
down  through  the  popes  to  the  present  time,  and  they 
have  supported  this  claim  by  documentary  evidence,  at 
least  since  the  time  of  Dionysius  Exiguus,  who,  it  will  be 
remembered,  was  the  first  to  fix  the  date  of  the  birth  of 
Christ.  This  Scythian  monk  collected  fifty,  so-called, 
apostolic  canons,  short  precepts,  drawn  from  the  Bible 
and  the  writings  of  the  early  fathers,  also  what  purported 
to  be  the  decrees  of  several  councils  of  the  Eastern  and 
African  churches  between  the  years  314  and  451.  To  this 
collection  there  was  added,  later,  a  second  part,  contain- 
ing letters  (decretals)  of  the  bishops  from  375  to  498,  to 
whichwere  further  added  from  time  to  time  more  decre- 
tals, running  back  to  the  establishment  of  Christianity. 


Ami  Christian  Mythology.  159 

To  these  was  added  another  collection,  of  Spanish  origin, 
beginning  about  the  seventh  century,  known  as  Bishop 
Isidore  of  Seville.  These  decretals  took  rank  with  the 
Bible  itself,  ran  back  to  Christ,  and  constituted  the  basis 
of  Christianity.  It  is  now  admitted  by  ecclesiastical  his- 
torians and  critics,  Catholic  as  well  as  Protestant,  that 
these  documents  are  base  forgeries.  The  church's  excuse 
for  these  forgeries  is  that  the  occasion  called  for  them. 

The  forged  documents  remained  unquestioned,  and 
quoted  as  authority,  until  the  fifteenth  century,  when  the 
forgeries  were  first  discovered  and  exposed  (see  "Mediae- 
val Europe."  by  Kphraim  Emerton,  Professor  of  History 
in  Harvard  University). 

Closely  allied  to  the  above  comes  a  pious  land  forgery. 
At  a  very  early  date  the  church  commenced  to  appropri- 
ate to  itself  immense  areas  of  country  in  Italy,  Sicily, 
Illyria,  and  <  laul,  from  the  rental  of  which  it  received  vast 
nues.  But  as  most  of  these  lands  had  been  obtained 
by  fraud  and  force,  the  titles  might  be  called  in  question, 
&  i  I  harlcmagne,  on  demand  of  the  church,  confirmed,  t<  i 
thai  body,  the  titles  to  most  of  the  Italian  lands;  the 
papacy  founded  its  title  on  grants,  purporting  to  come 
from  Constantine.  These  grants,  [ike  the  other  forgeries, 
believed  to  be  genuine  down  t"  tin-  fifteenth  century, 
when  they,  too,  wcrr  discovered  to  be  clumsy  forgeries, 
apparent  <>n  their  face  t<»  have  been  tin-  work  of  one  <>f  the 
church  fathers,  which  will  1><-  seen  on  inspection  <>f  the 
ed  decree  in  Henderson's  "Historical  Documenl  of 
the  Middli 

[■  r< 'in  what  has  hereinbefore  1  »een  shown,  it  will  !"•   1 1  n 
thai  the  church  fathers  did  no1  hesitate  <■>  commit  i"i 

es  in  the  int.  i •   '    ol  the 
church.    Forged  go  pels, forged  decrees,  forged  <i" 


160  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

forged  land  titles,  stolen  pagan  writings,  briberies,  force, 
ami  other  frauds,  all  go  to  make  up  the  foundation  of 
Christianity.  What  a  sublime  system  of  religion!  It  is  no 
wonder  that  the  devout  are  so  strongly  attached  to  this 
idol  of  purity. 

On  the  foregoing  showing,  what  is  Christianity  but  an 
old,  stale,  threadbare,  antiquated  system  of  fables,  leg- 
ends, and  myths  which  had  ceased  to  serve  the  purpose 
of  the  ancient  philosophers  and  mythologians,  and  had 
been  by  them  cast  off,  to  be  picked  up  and  made  the  foun- 
dation and  superstructure  which  now  overshadows  a  large 
part  of  our  globe,  and  holds  within  its  clerical  grasp  mill- 
ions of  otherwise  intelligent  human  beings? 

Let  us  call  up  Carlyle  and  listen  to  him  while  he  says: 
"Without  lamp  or  authentic  finger-post,  is  the  course  of 
pious  genius  toward  the  eternal  kingdom  grown.  No 
fixed  highway  more ;  the  old  spiritual  highway  and  recog- 
nized paths  to  the  eternal,  now  all  torn  up  and  flung  in 
heaps,  submerged  in  unutterable  boiling  mud.  Oceans  of 
hypocrisy  and  unbelievability,  speedy  end  to  superstition, 
a  gentle  one  if  you  can  contrive  it,  but  an  end.  What  can 
it  profit  any  mortal  to  adopt  locutions  and  imaginations 
which  do  not  correspond  to  facts,  which  no  sane  mortal 
can  deliberately  adopt  as  true;  and  which  the  most  ortho- 
dox of  mortals  can,  after  closing  his  mind  to  reason,  per- 
suade himself  to  guess  that  he  believes?" 

The  Council  of  Nice. 

The  third  century  had  already  passed  without  an  estab- 
lished creed,  a  code  of  sacred  laws,  or  even  fixing  the  re- 
lations which  Christ  bore  to  Jehovah.  Something  must 
be  done.  So  Constantine,  the  emperor,  caused  to  be  as- 
sembled at  Nice  three  hundred  and  eighteen  honest  bish- 


And  Christian  Mythology.  161 

ops,  with  himself  as  chairman,  although  at  this  time  he 
was  a  pagan. *  The  council  convened  325  A.  C,  and  after 
several  long  adjournments  finally  adjourned  381  A.  C. 
This  body  fixed  a  creed,  settled  by  vote  which  of  the 
numerous  scripts  gathered  up  from  all  sources,  with  the 
traditions,  should  go  into  the  sacred  Canon  and  thereafter 
constitute  the  faith  and  belief  of  all  true  Christians  for  all 
time  to  come.  Before  proceeding  to  business  this  body 
decreed  itself  infallible.  Then  commenced  bickering, 
wrangling,  and  quarreling  over  the  writings  to  be  received 
or  rejected,  so  say  Socrates,  Sozomen,  and  Rufinus.  Up 
to  this  time  Christ  had  occupied  the  position  of  a  martyr 
and  hero  vibrating  between  heaven  and  earth.  His  status 
must  be  fixed.  So  this  honest  council,  aided  by  Constan- 
tine,  the  imperial  murderer,  by  a  solemn  decree  assigned 
to  him  a  place  among  the  Gods.  By  this  decree  and  a 
;<1  decree  at  Constantinople,  May,  338,  the  Trinity 
borrowed  from  Hindustan,  Chaldea,  and  Egypt  was  once 
more  reinstated,  and  monotheism  was  overthrown.  In 
thus  establishing  the  Trinity,  the  Council  but  followed  in 
the  footsteps  of  earlier  peoples  and  nations. 

Sabinus,  Bishop  of  Heraclea,  in  speaking  of  this  Coun- 
cil of  Nice,  says:  "With  the  exception  of  Constantine  and 
EuseblUS,  the  members  were  a  lot  of  illitei.  Hires. 

vilified  and  libeled  each  other  to  mch  an  extent, 
says  Mosheim,  that  the  Emperor  had  to  use  force  to  sup- 

them.     To  cover  up  their  infarn  ius  pr<  iceedinj 
of  thi-ir  i  were  burned,  by  order  of  the  Emperor. 

It  will  he  remembered  that  while  this  Council  fixed  the 


•Some devout  writ  1  ■  that  it  wi 

to  preside  over  a  Christian  council,  with 
have  attempted 

but  th(  mt<  nil-. I] 


1G2  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

status  of  Christ,  it  remained  for  the  Council  of  Con- 
stantinople, May  338,  to  create  the  third  God,  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

Most  of  the  celestial  and  terrestrial  heroes  among  the 
nations  of  antiquity  were  the  offspring  of  earthly  mothers 
begotten  by  the  Gods.  This  famous  Council  of  Nice  fol- 
lowed the  well-established  rule,  leaving  the  mother  a 
virgin  after  the  birth  of  the  hero,  literally  copying  the 
precedent  in  the  case  of  Plato.  As  to  the  question  of 
three  in  one  and  one  in  three,  the  Council  acted  not  with- 
out precedent,  for  we  have  before  seen  how  Anu,  El,  and 
Hea  became  one  in  Elohim,  and  how  Elohim  became 
three  in  Anu,  El,  and  Hea ;  and  in  Egypt  how  Horus,  Ra, 
and  Turn  became  Jehovah.  The  process  is  a  very  simple 
one;  all  that  is  required  is  a  dearth  of  intelligence  and  an 
unlimited  amount  of  credulity.  Another  precedent  is 
found  in  Hindu  mythology,  where  we  learn  from  the 
Vedas  that  the  sun,  personified,  became  Brahma,  the 
creator  and  preserver  of  all  things,  and  out  of  him  sprang 
or  issued  Vishnu,  afterward  worshiped  as  Krishna.  Then 
came  Siva,  a  quasi-ghost,  who  also  issued  out  of  Brahma. 
After  this  Brahma  entrusted  the  affairs  of  the  world  to 
Krishna,  who  became  incarnate,  took  on  the  form  of 
man,  and  in  this  guise  descended  to  earth  to  look  after  the 
salvation  of  mankind;  and  at  the  final  winding-up  of 
earthly  things  he  will  return  to  earth  to  gather  together 
his  chosen  people. 

As  to  the  ritual  of  the  church,  the  whole  outfit,  even  to 
the  form  of  the  prayers,  was  borrowed  from  pagan  na- 
tions. 


And  Christian  Mythology.  163 

What   Do   We  Know   of  the  Sayings  and  Doings  of 
Christ? 

At  this  point,  and  on  the  foregoing  record,  the  ques- 
tion recurs :  What  do  we  know  of  the  sayings  and  doings 
of  Christ?  If  all  the  persons  who  have  been  concerned 
in  gathering  up  and  perpetuating  his  record  had  been 
honest,  it  would  even  then  readily  be  seen  that  our  knowl- 
edge of  him,  to  say  the  least,  is  extremely  uncertain ;  and 
when  we  take  into  consideration  the  interest  the  great 
army  of  priests  and  clergy  have  ever  had  to  deceive  the 
people  that  they  might  live  in  ease  and  luxury,  on  the 
credulity  of  the  populace,  and  the  further  known  fact  that 
the  priests  and  clergy  have  never  scrupled  at  the  means  to 
accomplish  their  desired  end,  may  we  not  in  all  candor 
assume  that  we  know  little  or  nothing  concerning  the 
man  Christ?  This  is  on  the  assumption  that  the  man 
once  lived. 

It  is  said  of  him  that  he  worked  miracles,  that  he  healed 
the  sick,  cured  the  blind,  and  raised  the  dead.  As  to  the 
alleged  miracles,  no  one  of  ordinary  intelligence  in  this 
age  believes  them.  The  alleged  flight  of  the  parents  with 
the  child  into  Egypt,  and  his  return,  were  copied  from  the 
Hebrew  legend  of  the  return  of  Moses  into  Egypt.      The 

lb  brew  nam  Is:  "Return  into  Egypt,  for  all  the 

men  are  dead  which  sought  thy  life."  The  legend  con- 
tinues:  "And  Moses  tool  his  wife  and  sons  and  set  them 
upon  an  ass,  and  he  returned  to  the  land  of  Egypt."  The 
language  used  by  the  evanj  "And  take  the  young 

child  and  his  mother  and  go  into  the  land  of  1  rael,  for 
are  all  d<  ad  -  hi<  h  soughl  the  young  child's  life." 

Moses  got  his  order  from  Jehovah,  while  Joseph  pot 
his  from  an  angel ;  in  both  case!  the  parents  'ode  on  an 


16-4  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

ass.  The  evangelical  statement,  that  the  boy  Christ  "in- 
creased in  wisdom  and  strength,  and  in  favor  with  God 
and  men,"  runs  parallel  with  the  Hebrew  statement  about 
Samuel,  "That  he  grew  and  was  in  favor  both  with  the 
Lord  and  with  men." 

The  suffering  of  Moses  in  the  desert  forty  years,  and 
the  temptation  and  suffering  of  Christ  in  the  desert  forty 
days,  are  of  the  same  piece.  The  forty  days  of  Moses  on 
Mount  Sinai,  his  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  the  forty 
days  of  Christ  in  the  wilderness,  and  the  forty  days  of 
Elijah  are  but  mythical  round  numbers  borrowed  from 
the  pagans.  These  things  and  the  statements  of  the  dis- 
cussions of  Christ,  when  a  boy,  are  but  idle  tales  invented 
by  the  early  fathers  of  the  church  to  bolster  up  their 
cause. 

Pagan   Miracles. 

We  have  said  that  no  one  of  intelligence  in  this  age  be- 
lieves in  miracles,  but  if  we  are  mistaken  in  this,  and  there 
are  such  persons,  who,  from  the  force  of  early  teachings, 
should  take  issue  with  us  on  this  point,  for  their  benefit 
and  edification  we  will  cite  a  few  among  the  many  pagan 
miracles,  all  of  earlier  dates,  and  all  parallel  with  the  He- 
brew and  Christian  articles. 

It  was  said  and  believed  that  Anius,  high  priest  of 
Apollo,  changed  stone  into  wheat  and  wine. 

As  Christ  was  begotten  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  Alex- 
ander the  Great  was  begotten  by  Zeus,  and  so  the  elder 
Scipio  was  begotten  by  Jupiter. 

The  Apis  bull  of  Egypt  was  born  from  a  cow  impreg- 
nated by  a  ray  of  the  sun,  the  divine  soul  of  Osiris  having 
entered  into  it  when  a  calf;  he  was  carried  to  Heliopolis, 
where  he  was  worshiped  forty  days.  As  Augustus  was  the 


And  Christian  Mythology.  165 

son  of  Apollo,  why  should  not  Christ  be  the  son  of 
Jehovah,  for  it  was  a  common  thing  for  the  Gods  of  those 
times  to  share  the  couches  of  married  women? 

Romulus  and  Remus,  the  founders  of  Rome,  were  mi- 
raculously born  of  the  vestal  virgin  Ilia,  with  Apollo  as 
their  father;  and  like  Christ  they  appeared  to  many  per- 
sons after  death. 

Argus  and  Vulcan  were  born  of  the  Goddess  Juno  be- 
gotten by  a  God.  Painkhi,  king  of  Upper  Egypt,  had 
engraved  on  his  monument  the  statement  that  he  was 
born  of  a  divine  egg  of  his  mother,  impregnated  by  the 
God  Ra. 

Esculapius,  son  of  Apollo,  raised  the  dead  by  bringing 
to  life  Hippolitus,  son  of  Theseus,  at  the  request  of  Diana. 

Hercules  raised  from  the  dead  Alceste,  wife  of  Ado- 
netus,  king  of  Thessalia,  and  restored  her  to  her  husband. 

As  Moses  made  water  gush  from  a  rock,  so  Minerva 
made  oil  spring  from  a  rock. 

Matthew  said  the  star  followed  the  Magi  from  the  East 
and  rested  over  the  new-born  infant  at  Bethlehem. 

Justin  says  at  the  birth  of  Mithridates  a  comet  appeared 
four  hours  a  day  for  seventy  days,  so  large  as  to  fill  one- 
fourth  of  the  sky. 

Apollonius  rivaled  Christ  in  curing  the  sick  and  raising 
the  dead.     ITc  astonished  the  priests  and  magistral 
Rome  by  bringing  to  li  ad  body  ofa  noble  woman. 

After  his  death  hi  jigned  a  place  among  the  Gods, 

tempi  raised  to  his  mem<  >ry,  and  he  was  worshiped 

for  !"■  i  ■  ears. 

The  Trojans  received  from  heaven  their  idol  Pallas. 

Tros,  king  of  Troy,  was  translated  to  heaven  by  Zeus. 

The  holy  women  of  the  temple  oi  I  >iana  and  the  pi  ii 


16(>  Commentaries  on   flrhrew 

of  the  Goddess  Feronia  walked  barefooted  on  burning 
coals  of  fire  made  in  honor  of  Apollo. 

As  an  offset  to  the  ram  offered  in  sacrifice,  in  lieu  of 
Isaac,  the  Goddess  Yesta  offered  a  heifer  in  sacrifice  in 
the  place  of  Metella. 

The  horse  of  Pegasus,  by  the  stroke  of  his  foot,  like 
Moses  with  the  tip  of  his  staff,  caused  water  to  gush  from 
a  rock. 

Pelopes,  son  of  Tantalus,  king  of  Phrygia,  having  been 
torn  to  pieces  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  Gods,  the  pieces  were 
gathered  up,  joined,  and  life  was  restored. 

As  Jehovah  revealed  to  the  evangelists  that  Christ  was 
his  son,  so  Vulcan  revealed  by  fire  that  Ceculus  was  his 
son. 

Phineus,  son  of  Mars,  was  born  and  nursed  by  his 
mother  months  after  her  death. 

As  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  by  the  sound  of  trumpets,  so 
the  walls  of  Thebes  were  built  by  the  sounds  of  musical 
instruments  played  by  Amphion. 

Cyrus,  the  Persian  king,  when  a  child,  was  given  up  to 
be  devoured  by  wild  beasts,  but  was  saved  therefrom  by 
divine  interference. 

D.  F.  Strauss,  in  his  "Life  of  Jesus,"  says  that  the  story 
of  the  miraculous  preservation  of  the  child  Christ  is  but 
the  old  story  told  of  Zeus,  with  a  change  of  names  only. 
The  story  told  in  the  Pentateuch  of  the  miraculous  pres- 
ervation of  Moses  in  a  basket  on  the  Nile  is  but  a  copy 
of  the  stories  told  of  Cyrus  by  Herodotus;  of  Romulus  by 
Livy;  of  Sargon  in  the  inscriptions;  of  Suetonius  by  Au- 
gustus, the  first  Roman  emperor. 

We  might  go  on  adding  pagan  miracles  without  num- 
ber, running  parallel  with  those  told  by  the  Jews,  and  of 
Christ  by  the  Christians. 


And  Christian  Mythology.  167 

And  we  may  here  say  that  these  pagan  miracles  come 
down  to  us  just  as  well  authenticated  and  supported  as  do 
those  told  in  the  Bible.  They  rest  upon  the  same  founda- 
tion, supported  by  the  same  class  of  evidence;  and  that 
foundation  is  a  myth.  The  Jews  and  Christians  undoubt- 
edly found  it  easier  to  borrow  and  select  from  a  large 
stock  of  old,  stale,  well-believed  pagan  miracles,  than  to 
invent  new  ones. 

The  Christian  mythologians,  being  forced  by  the  abun- 
dance of  evidence  to  admit  that  all  the  religions  of  the 
world,  like  their  own,  claim  to  rest  on  divine  revelations, 
finally  fall  back  on  borrowed  miracles  as  a  dernier  resort 
to  sustain  a  crumbling  fabric. 

The  only  g<  nuine  miracle  ever  performed  by  Christ 
was  in  selecting  one  man  out  of  twelve,  who  could  read 
and  write.  As  to  dreams  and  prophecies,  the  ancients 
had  a  large  stock,  and  they  were  as  well  fulfilled  as  those 
related  in  the  Bible. 

The  fine-spun  but  conflicting  and  contradictory  gospel 
narratives  of  the  conception,  birth,  and  life  of  Christ  have 
been  by  Baur,  Strauss,  Renan,  Bauer,  Greg,  and  others 
completely  exploded. 

The  Christians  will  here  meet  us  and  say,  even  assum- 
ing that  Christ  was  only  a  man,  he  was  a  wonderful 
teacher:  he  taughl  many  valuable  things.  If  we  should 
concede  all  which  has  been  said  of  him  in  this  respect  to 
be  true,  our  answer  will  be,  thai  all  of  these  things  had 
been  said  and  taughl  by  others  long  before  Chrisl  lived. 
The  Jewish  Sabbath,  even  the  very  name,  was  borrowed 
from  Egypt,  Chaldea,  Babylon,  and  Assyria,  as  herein 
before  stated.  And  as  to  the  Chri  dan  Sunday,  as  before 
u.  it  was  borrowed  from  pagan  Rome. 

The  great  Chinese  philo  opher  Confucius  taught  his 


108  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

people  to  do  unto  others  as  they  would  be  done  by,  nor 
was  this  any  new  idea  originating  with  the  Chinese.  It  is- 
a  natural  instinct,  a  faculty  possessed  by  all  good  men. 
And  as  for  the  devil,  the  mountain,  and  the  kingdom 
story,  that  was  borrowed  from  a  Persian  legend,  where, 
as  before  stated,  the  devil  took  Zoroaster  up  into  a  moun- 
tain and  offered  him  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  if  he 
wrould  forsake  his  religion.  Substantially  the  same 
legend  existed  as  to  Buddha.  Many  things  said  to  have 
been  taught  by  Christ  are  absolutely  impractical,  and 
others,  if  carried  out,  would  place  us  back  into  a  state  of 
barbarism. 

The   World  Without  Christianity. 

The  question  here  arises,  whether  the  world  would  not 
be  better  off  if  Christianity  had  never  existed?  This  de- 
pends on  whether  the  church  and  its  people  have  done 
more  good  than  harm  to  the  human  race.  The  Chris- 
tians and  their  church  have  left  a  record  of  their  doings, 
and  by  this  they  must  stand  trial.  Let  us  examine  the 
record  as  it  has  come  down  to  us. 

Rome  at  the  Time  of  the  Origin  of  Christianity. 

At  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Christianity,  Rome  was  the 
world,  and  the  world  was  Rome.  Its  vast  empire  was 
bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  on  the  east 
by  Hindustan,  on  the  north  by  Germania  and  what  now  is 
Russia,  and  on  the  south  by  the  great  Libyan  Desert  of 
Africa ;  over  this  vast  domain  it  held  absolute  dominion. 
To  be  Roman  citizens  was  the  pride  of  its  people.  Gen- 
erally the  people  were  prosperous  and  happy.  Justice 
and  equity  were  administered  in  all  the  land.  There  were 
no  religious  bickerings  or  dissensions,  for  all  were  allowed 


And   Christian   Mythology.  169 

to  worship  the  Gods,  each  according  to  the  dictates  of  his 
own  conscience,  or  to  repudiate  all  of  them.  It  has  been 
said  by  one  of  the  ablest  historians,  that  if  one  were  to 
select  an  epoch  of  the  world's  history  when  happiness 
had  reached  its  highest  point,  he  would  elect  the  eighth 
century  of  Rome.  Such  was  the  state  of  the  world  at  the 
birth  of  Christianity,  when  the  ignorant  worshiped  all  of 
the  Gods,  while  the  intelligent  believed  in  none  of  them. 

Arrogance  of  Christian  Doctrine. 

The  Christians  from  the  first  avowed  the  doctrines  that 
their  God  was  the  only  true  God;  that  they  were  abso- 
lutely right,  and  all  who  did  not  agree  with  them  were 
heretics  and  enemies  to  their  creed  and  their  God;  that 
they  were  ordained  by  a  higher  power  to  subdue  and 
bring  into  the  church  all  mankind;  and  that  it  was  their 
right  and  duty  to  convert  the  world  to  Christianity,  and 
to  punish  those  who  refused  to  be  thus  converted. 

The  natural  and  inevitable  result  of  such  a  doctrine, 
when  attempted  to  be  put  into  practice,  was  to  array  all 
others  against  this  sect.  Torture,  persecution,  and  death 
to  dissenters,  heretics,  and  infidels  was  the  natural  and 
legitimate  result  of  such  a  doctrine. 

In  the  infancy  of  the  church,  and  up  to  the  death  of 

tantine,  337  A.  ('.,  the  chunh  was  ton  weak  t"  en- 

tisl  the  pagans,  and  even  against  the 

communication.    This  weapon    it 

1  I  upon  those  who  dared  to  call  in  < |n<st i< »n  the 

orthodox  opinion;  and  it  often  happened  thai  those  who 

orthodox  .'it  one  time  were  heterodox  a  little  later, 

d<  pending  on  the  vote  <>f  the  bishops  or  the  whim  <>f  the 

emperor.    The  church  evei  tolerated  no  dissenl 

ing  opinio!]..      In  all  ages  and  I  OUntl  Lea  W  here  it  had  the 


170  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

power,  it  enforced  its  decrees  by  torture,  death,  or  banish- 
ment. It  was  only  when  civilization  and  humanity  would 
no  longer  endure  these  outrages  that  the  church  adopted 
a  milder  form  of  persecution;  this  it  did  from  necessity, 
not  from  choice.  The  church  is  as  intolerant  to-day  as  it 
was  from  the  fourth  to  the  seventeenth  century,  it  has 
only  changed  its  weapons  and  mode  of  warfare. 

Laws  of  disfranchisement  and  ostracism  are  now  in  full 
force  on  the  statute  books  of  many  ci  the  American 
States.  There  are  laws  in  full  force  and  effect  in  several 
of  the  States  depriving  the  unbeliever  of  the  right  to  vote 
or  hold  office,  and  in  some  States  he  is,  or  was  a  short 
time  ago,  not  even  permitted  to  testify  in  the  Courts. 

In  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  the  old  laws  stand  unre- 
pealed, making  it  a  penal  offence,  punishable  by  fine  and 
imprisonment,  to  ride  on  Sunday,  or  for  the  keeper  of 
any  public-house  to  permit  any  person  other  than  guests 
to  stand  or  sit  around  the  premises.  Another  law  of  that 
State,  still  in  force,  punishes  with  imprisonment  in  the 
State  prison  any  person  who  shall  deny  the  divinity  of 
any  one  of  the  three  Christian  Gods. 

In  1870  the  Vatican  Council  at  Rome  issued  a  bull 
anathematizing  all  persons  who  deny  that  the  world  was 
made  out  of  nothing,  also  all  who  oppose  religion  as  pro- 
mulgated by  the  Roman  church,  or  who  assert  the  doc- 
trine of  evolution,  or  that  God  and  the  universe  are  one 
and  the  same. 

As  late  as  1875  several  Catholic  journals  of  Italy,  Spain, 
and  Belgium,  joined  by  some  priests,  clamored  for  the 
restoration  of  the  Inquisition,  and  asserted  that  without 
force  the  church  was  doomed. 

While  this  was  being  done  by  the  Catholics,  numerous 
persecutions,  for  religious  opinions,  were  being  carried  on 


Ami  Christian  Mythology.  171 

in  Protestant  Sweden  against  men  of  learning  for  speak- 
ing disrespectfully  of  Christianity.  In  two  cases,  the 
men,  for  publishing  Strauss's  "Life  of  Christ,"  were  heav- 
ily fined,  and  served  long  terms  of  imprisonment. 

A  little  earlier,  in  1765,  at  Abbeville,  France,  La  Barre, 
on  a  charge  of  pulling  down  an  old  wooden  crucifix,  was 
condemned,  and  on  June  5,  1766,  was  led  to  the  place  of 
execution,  one  hand  cut  oft,  his  tongue  drawn  out  with 
iron  pinchers  and  cut  off,  after  which  his  head  was  cut  off. 
It  was  thereafter  proven  that  the  crucifix  was  blown  down 
by  a  gale  of  wind. 

In  the  face  of  the  fore-going  state  of  facts,  will  it  do  to 
say  that  the  spirit  of  religious  persecution  is  not  as  rife  to- 
day as  in  former  years?  It  lacks  the  power  to  enforce  its 
demoniac  spirit,  and  that  is  all  the  difference. 

Low  Character  of   the  Early  Christians. 

Tacitus,  the  Roman  historian,  who  condescended  to 
speak  of  the  early  Christians,  in  referring  to  the  burning 
of  Rome,  says  that  X'cro  charged  the  crime  on  the  per- 
commonly  called  Christians;  that  Christus,  the 
founder  Of  that  sect,  v.  a-  put  to  death  as  a  criminal;  that 
tin-  pernicious  superstition,  suppressed  for  a  time.  1  ■ 
gain,  not  only  in  Judea,  where  it  originated,  but  in 

e,  where  all  the  horrible,  disgraceful  things  from  all 

quarters  fell  into  it  as  into  a  common  receptacle,  where 
they  were  encouraged.  Gibbon  says  that  the  early 
Christians  were  composed  of  tin-  •'  the  populace, 

ofpeasanl  women,  b  and  slaves.     Paul,  the 

real  founder  of  Christianity,  after  a  1  ent  in  the 

inverting  and  bringing  into  the  fold 
from  six  hundred  to  a  thousand  of  these  worthies, 
n.     Without  Paul, '  Christianity  would  have  pel 


172  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

in  the  cradle,  and  Paul  would  not  have  died  a  criminal  in 
chains  at  Rome.  However  much  we  may  differ  from 
him,  his  heroism  has  won  from  us  a  tear  for  his  grave. 
Peter  is  also  supposed  to  have  died  an  unnatural  death  at 
Rome. 

The  Apostles. 

Out  of  the  twelve  original  apostles  alleged  to  have 
been  selected  by  Christ,  who  were  among  his  most 
intimate  friends,  eleven  could  neither  read  nor  write; 
the  twelfth  was  a  tax-gatherer;  the  eleven  were  com- 
mon laborers  and  fishermen.  After  the  death  of 
their  master,  they  for  a  time  secreted  themselves  in 
Jerusalem  and  in  out-of-the-way  places  in  Judea,  until 
the  death  of  Stephen,  when  a  few  of  them  came  from  their 
hiding-places  and  appeared  in  the  byways  as  advocates  of 
the  cause  of  their  fallen  hero.  Very  little  is  known  oi 
them,  and  that  little  is  found  in  the  letters  of  Paul  (which 
are  charged  to  be  forgeries),  in  the  book  of  Acts,  and  in 
tradition.  Tradition  has  consigned  them  all  to  violent 
deaths  and  ignominious  graves.  From  this  obscure  root 
sprang  the  Christian  tree  which  has  cast  its  blight  and 
shadow  over  Europe  and  America. 

Christianity,  like  many  other  budding  myths,  would 
undoubtedly  have  died  in  its  cradle  but  for  the  impetuous 
Paul  and  the  cool-headed  Barnabas.  Paul  was  a  Jewish 
officer,  and  unrelenting  in  his  persecution  of  the  Chris- 
tians, but  he,  like  Brahma,  became  converted  by  a  mir- 
acle, after  which  his  impetuous  temper  made  him  as  much 
of  an  enemy  of  the  Jews  as  he  had  before  been  of  the 
Christians. 

Tertullian,  the  orator,  called  Paul  the  ringleader  of  the 
sect  of  Nazarenes. 


And  CJtrisfia.n  Mythology.  173 

A  fanatic  called  Simon,  of  the  town  of  Gitton  in 
Samaria,  commenced  to  preach  primitive  Mosaism,  of 
which  he  pretended  to  have  found  the  sacred  utensils. 
He  cured  the  sick,  raised  the  dead,  restored  the  blind,  and 
did  many  other  wonders  by  laying  on  of  hands.  Al- 
though a  pagan  and  a  conjurer,  he  was  making  many 
converts. 

Philip,  learning  of  Simon's  success,  rushed  to  his  aid, 
followed  by  the  apostles  Peter  and  John,  when  all  worked 
together  and  rivaled  Jerusalem  in  the  number  of  converts. 
IJarnabas,  one  of  the  most  enlightened  of  the  Christians, 
seeing  that  this  pagan  Simon  was  likely  to  outdo  the  faith- 
ful in  miracles,  rushed  to  the  aid  of  Paul,  who  was  likely 
to  destroy,  not  only  himself,  but  his  cause,  by  his  own 
egotism  and  self-will;  when  the  two  acted  together  on  the 
Christian  side,  turned  their  shafts  against  Simon  and  his 
miraculous  powers,  until  they  crushed  him.  In  this  way, 
and  by  this  combination  and  trust,  Simon  lost  and  Christ 
won  the  place  on  the  trinity. 

Quarrel  Over  the   Trinity  and  Incarnation. 

After  the  extinction  of  paganism,  the  <  Christian  bishops 
and  |  irly  in  the  i  ft  1 1  century,  turned  their  at- 

tention to  the  exploration  of  the  nature  and  attributi 
their  founder.     The  disputi  erning  the  trinity  were 

followed  b)  those  on  the  incarnation.  Whether  Christ 
»f  pure  divine  or  of  human  « .rii^iu,  or  a  mixture  and 
compound  of  the  two  natur<  i,  made  up  the  issue  for  de- 
termination; ■  '  '•»  all  manner  of  artifice, 
aubterfugi  invective,  and  ridicule  b  i 
cure  a  verdict  or  majority  vote  at  the  synods;  for  a  ma- 
jority von-  determined  and  settled  for  the  time  the  qui  s 

tion  as  to  which  party  was  orthodox   and  which   hen 


174  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

The  action  and  determination  of  one  assembly  generally 
failed  to  quiet  and  hush  the  threats  of  the  minority,  nor 
was  it  an  uncommon  thing  for  a  synod  to  reverse  the  de- 
cree of  a  former  one,  and  call  from  banishment  the  exiled 
heretics  and  fill  their  places  in  exile  by  those  who  were 
orthodox  at  a  former  trial. 

These  bitter  wranglings  brought  to  the  surface  three 
powerful  sects  who,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  the  notion  that 
their  hero  was  born  of  a  woman  and  reared  like  other 
children,  boldly  denied  that  he  was  born  at  all,  and  as- 
serted that  he,  fully  matured,  was  let  down  from  heaven 
into  Judea,  where,  as  a  pure  divinity,  he  taught  the  road  to 
salvation.  To  get  around  the  death  scene,  they  asserted 
that  it  was  a  Jew  resembling  their  hero  who  was  crucified. 
This  faction,  being  too  small  to  maintain  itself,  was  soon 
eaten  up  by  the  other  two,  who  joined  hands  for  that  pur- 
pose, only  to  renew  their  quarrels  after  they  had  devoured 
their  lesser  enemy.  Had  these  sects  been  successful,  the 
road  of  the  Christians  would  have  been  a  short  and  easy 
one,  for  neither  history  nor  tradition  would  have  been  in 
their  way;  a  bold  assertion  of  their  hero  on  earth,  and  of 
his  ascension  to  heaven,  would  have  ended  the  contro- 
versy, and  saved  them  the  ever-recurring  perplexity  of 
explaining  away  the  natural  birth  and  boyhood  of  their 
Messiah,  and  his  ignominious  death. 

This  controversy  was  kept  up  for  250  years;  the  con- 
tagion spread  until  the  Roman  emperor  was  drawn  into 
the  vortex,  when  he  used  his  position,  and  at  times  his 
army,  to  settle  the  dispute.  When  a  point  had  to  be 
settled  by  the  army,  of  course  all  the  soldiers  were  in- 
spired. The  quarrels  raged  so  fiercely  and  became  so 
desperate  between  these  pious  warriors,  that  they  often 
brought  an  army  of  fighting  Christians  to  the  assemblies, 


And  Christian  Mythology.  175 

as  auxiliaries  in  case  of  need  to  assist  in  their  divine  work. 
Nor  was  it  an  uncommon  thing-  to  have  a  clash  of  arms, 
resulting  in  the  sacrifice  of  thousands  of  lives. 

It  was  a  common  practice  with  the  pious  bishops  and 
presbyters,  when  they  happened  to  be  on  the  winning,  or 
orthodox,  side,  to  roast  their  heretical  adversaries  over 
slow  fires,  cut  off  their  hands  or  feet,  or  tear  out  their 
tongues,  as  best  suited  their  refined  natures.  Thousands 
upon  thousands  were  thus  tortured  and  put  to  death. 

Sometimes  both  men  and  women  were  stripped  naked 
and  suspended  in  the  air  by  ropes,  with  weights  tied  to 
their  feet,  where  they  hung  until  relieved  by  death  or  con- 
version to  the  true  faith.  The  persecuted  at  one  time  be- 
came the  persecutors  a  little  later,  depending  on  the  vote 
of  the  Council  or  the  side  espoused  by  the  emperor.  All 
Christians — persecuted  and  persecutors — differing 
only  as  to  some  minute  or  obscure  doctrinal  point  about 
the  trinity  or  incarnation;  but  as  it  was  deemed  necessary 
to  salvation  that  the  believer  should  not  make  a  mistake, 
the  end,  however  harsh  or  cruel,  always  justified  the 
imans. 

After  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  strife  and  blood 

she!  between  these  holy  divines,  aided  by  their  devout 

votaries,  the  issues  were  finally  settled  or  dropped  by  an 

tnenl  to  ascribe  to  their  founder,  hern,  and  Savior, 

the  name,  title,  character,  and  appellation  of  I  fomoousian 

or  Homoiousian,  leaving  each  of  the  contending  parties 

to  construe  this  term  to  suil  itself.     After  thus  settling 

the  question,  the  mind  of  the  pious  devotee  can  resl  at 

.  for  if  his  faith  be  ever  doubted  or  railed  in  question, 

all  lie  has  to  do  is  to  remember  the  password,  Homoou- 

sian,  and  leave  the  angel    "i  other  doorkeepers  to  inter- 

the  ( >racle. 


17(5  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

The  Christian  church  of  to-day  rests  upon  the  bones  of 
from  thirty  to  fifty  millions  of  human  beings  guilty  of  no 
crime  or  offense  (unless  it  be  a  crime  not  to  understand, 
comprehend,  or  believe  in  the  asserted  divinity  of  Christ), 
who  have  been  tortured  and  put  to  death  in  the  most  cruel 
and  inhuman  manner  at  the  instigation,  and  by  the 
authority  and  command,  of  priests,  bishops,  popes,  and 
other  pious  leaders  of  the  church,  all  claiming  to  act 
under  and  in  pursuance  of  divine  authority. 

Quarrel  Over  Images. 

The  bishops,  presbyters,  deacons,  and  other  church 
rulers,  not  having  all  their  time  occupied  in  settling  the 
divine  nature  of  their  hero,  turned  their  attention  to  the 
question  of  the  worship  of  images,  which  by  the  middle  of 
the  sixth  century  had  become  so  thoroughly  established 
as  to  supplant  and  usurp  the  place  of  the  founder  of  the 
sect. 

The  walls  of  the  cathedrals  of  the  principal  cities  of 
Asia,  Africa,  and  parts  of  Europe  were  decorated  with 
pictures  of  Christ,  the  Virgin,  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
numerous  lesser  divinities,  all  made  without  hands.  The 
scandal  had  become  so  great  that  many  of  the  bishops 
and  deacons  declared  that  the  idols  of  pagan  Rome  had 
taken  the  place  of  their  redeemer  and  martyr.  A  Council 
was  called  to  take  action  in  the  premises.  The  seventh 
general  synod,  of  338  bishops,  met  at  Constantinople,  and 
by  an  edict  abolished,  pro  forma,  the  worship  of  images. 
But  the  populace,  preferring  visible  to  invisible  divinities, 
refused  to  give  up  their  idols.  An  attempt  to  destroy 
these  long-established  objects  of  veneration  resulted  in  a 
general  conflict.  The  rulers  were  divided,  the  devout 
were  impregnable.     Anathemas,  and  decrees  of  excom- 


And  Christian  Mythology.  177 

munication,  were  hurled  in  vain;  more  potent  weapons 
were  resorted  to,  when  thousands  freely  gave  up  their 
lives  to  the  holy  cause.  After  thirty-eight  years  of  strife 
and  carnage,  the  second  orthodox  Council  convened  at 
Nice,  and  revoked  the  former  edict,  thereby  restoring  to 
the  Christians  their  pagan  idols. 

The  priests  assured  the  faithful  that  their  images  had 
promised  protection  to  the  cities  of  Asia,  Syria,  and 
Africa,  wherein  they  were  placed,  from  the  ravages  of  the 
infidel  Saracens;  but  notwithstanding  these  assurances 
the  Mohammedans  captured  the  cities  and  destroyed  the 
Gods  of  the  Christians. 

Battle  of  Tours. 

After  the  Saracens  had  overrun  a  considerable  part  of 
Asia  and  Africa,  planted  the  crescent  in  place  of  the  cross, 
invaded  and  conquered  part  of  Europe,  Christianity  hung 
single  thread.  Germany,  Austria,  Italy,  Belgium, 
France,  and  Switzerland  gathered  and  united  their  forces 
for  the  final  struggle.  The  vast  armies  were  quite  evenly 
divided;  the  battle  was  fought  near  Tours,  732  A.  C. ;  for 
six  long  days  the  battle  raged  with  varying  success;  at  the 
close  of  the  sixth  day  the  Christians  were  preparing  for 
defeat ;  on  the  seventh  day  the  carnage  and  slaughter  went 
on,  the  Gods  favoring  the  Saracens  until  Abd-el-Kali 
man,  their  commander,  fell  mortally  wounded,  leaving 
his  foil  in  dismay   to   quarrel  among    themselves, 

while  the  Christians,  led  by  Martel,  remained  masters  of 
the  field.  Mohammedan  invasions  and  conquest  ceased 
for  a  time  with  this  famous  battle,  and  the  followers  of  the 
cross  once  more  felt  at  ease. 

While  the  faithful  will  believe  the  story  of  AnastasiUS, 
that  the  BUCCeSB  of  the  n-iHvtians    WSJ    Hur    tn    the    nsr 


178  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

among  the  soldiers  of  three  consecrated  sponges,  which 
prevented  the  spears  of  the  infidels  from  piercing  the 
bodies  of  the  faithful,  the  unbeliever  will  continue  to  at- 
tribute the  defeat  of  the  Saracens  to  the  death  of  their 
commander. 

One  would  naturally  think  that,  for  saving  the  life  of 
Christianity,  Charles  Martel,  the  hero  of  Tours,  would 
have  been  assigned  a  place  among  the  Gods,  or  at  least 
among  the  saints,  but  it  was  not  so  to  be,  for  to  pay  off  his 
army  for  its  pious  work  he  found  it  necessary  to  appro- 
priate a  part  of  the  church  property.  For  this  sacrilegious 
act  he  was  by  a  Gallic  synod  consigned  to  eternal  perdi- 
tion. Several  bishops,  who  claimed  to  be  eye-witnesses 
at  the  opening  of  Mattel's  grave  some  years  after  his 
death,  vouched  for  the  truth  that  they  smelled  brimstone, 
saw  fire  issue  from  his  grave,  and  a  dragon  come  out  of 
his  body. 

Had  Abd-el-Rahman  not  fallen  in  that  famous  battle, 
the  Koran  would  have  been  taught  to-day  in  the  schools, 
while  Europe  and  America  would  have  been  proclaiming 
the  praise  of  Allah,  and  of  Mohammed  as  his  prophet. 

Quarrel  Over  the  Sacrament. 

Closely  allied  to  the  foregoing,  there  arose  a  contest 
among  the  Lutherans, of  the  Reformed  church,  as  to  what 
constituted  the  substance  of  the  sacrament.  The  contest 
lasted  during  the  whole  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
while  it  was  equally  bitter,  often  ending  in  fights,  it  was 
less  sanguinary  than  that  over  the  trinity  and  incarnation. 
The  issues  were  fairly  and  fully  presented  as  to  whether 
the  devout,  in  partaking  of  the  sacrament,  did  so  emble- 
matically, or  whether  he,  in  eating  the  bread  and  drinking 


And  Christian  Mythology.  179 

the  claret,  was  eating  the  genuine  flesh  and  drinking  the 
genuine  blood  of  his  redeemer. 

Such  vital,  substantial,  ponderous,  and  all-absorbing 
questions  as  these,  especially  when  urged  with  such 
power,  vehemence,  force,  culture,  and  logic  as  the  teach- 
ers of  divinity  alone  can  wield,  must  have  been  interest- 
ing and  instructive,  as  well  as  amusing,  to  the  outside 
world. 

Whatever  may  be  said  as  to  the  cannibalism  of  the  ma- 
terialistic party,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  its  adherents  had 
the  advantage  of  solid  food  in  their  stomachs,  even  though 
somewhat  stale,  over  their  opponents,  who  contented 
themselves  by  living  on  air. 

Constantine,  First  Christian  Emperor. 

Constantine  was  born  at  Rome  2J2  A.  C,  proclaimed 
emperor  by  his  army  306  A.  C,  and  was  an  usurper  when 
he  was  placed  in  the  command  of  the  army  of  Gaul,  over 
soldiers  most  of  whom  were  Christians.  On  his  return 
from  Gaul  with  an  army  of  130,000  men,  he  discovered  a 
of  the  cross  in  the  heavens,  which  he  interpreted  to 
his  soldiers  as  an  omen  of  success.  At  the  head  of  his 
Christian  army.  Constantine  reared  the  cross  and  on  it 
the  motto,  "By  this  sign  ye  shall  conquer."  He  defeated 
Licinius  at  the  head  of  180,000  pagans,  and  thereby  laid 
the  foundation  of  his  future  greatness,  as  well  as  the  foun 
dation  of  the  Christian  church,  of  which  he  became  the 
head.    He  caused  1  icinius  to  be  murdered  32  1  A.  C. 

Some  of  the  cardinal  virtues  in  the  life  of  this  great 
Christian  leader  can  hardly  be  out  of  place  here.  Uis 
wife  Fausta  he  put  to  death  by  drowning  her  in  a  tank  of 
boiling  water;  he  beheaded  his  eldest  son  Crispus  while 
he  (Constantine)  was  presiding  at  the  Christian  Council 


180  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

of  Nice;  he  murdered  the  husbands  of  his  two  sisters 
Constantia  and  Anastasia;  he  murdered  his  father-in-law 
Maximian  Herculius;  he  murdered  his  nephew,  twelve 
years  of  age,  and  some  others. 

Bishop  Lardner,  in  speaking  of  these  murders  by  Con- 
stantine,  says:  "They  seem  to  cast  a  reflection  upon 
him."  All  of  these  murdered  people  were  pagans.  After 
these  murders,  Constantine  applied  to  the  pagan  priest 
Sopater  for  consolation,  and  when  told  by  this  priest  that 
he  could  do  nothing  for  him,  he  killed  the  priest  and  then 
applied  to  the  Christian  bishops,  who  absolved  him  from 
the  penalties  of  these  crimes  and  gave  him  a  free  pass  to 
paradise.  (Purgatory  had  not  then  been  created,  nor  was 
this  wayside  inn  finally  established  by  decree  until  the 
meeting  of  the  Council  of  Trent  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
when  to  replenish  the  papal  exchequer,  this  house  was  de- 
clared a  stopping-place  for  all  of  the  faithful  who  left 
funds  or  friends  to  purchase  a  ticket  for  the  rest  of  the 
route).  For  this  act  of  the  bishops,  Constantine  abjured 
paganism  and  entered  into  full  fellowship  with  the 
church,  presided  at  the  Councils,  settled  religious  con- 
troversies, and  declared  what  opinions  were  orthodox  and 
what  heterodox. 

One  of  the  most  important  acts  of  this  royal  murderer 
was  to  decree  and  settle  the  trinity.  Constantine  died 
337  A.  C. 

Summary  of  the  Origin  of  Christian  Mythology. 

In  the  foregoing,  we  have,  in  brief,  referred  to  only  a 
few  of  the  numerous  leading  critics  and  commentators 
consulted  in  making  up  this  book.  To  have  done  more 
would  have  been  foreign  to  the  purposes  of  this  little 
work.     Should  the  reader  desire  to  go  more  into  the  de 


And  Christian  Mythology.  181 

tails  of  the  various  questions  herein  presented,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  authorities  herein  cited,  he  will  find  under 
different  headings  in  the  several  encyclopaedias,  quite  full 
lists  of  authors;  and  as  to  the  critics  on  Christ,  Chris- 
tianity, and  the  gospels,  he  may  find  such  as  he  desires  in 
McClintock  &  Strong's  "Cyclopaedia  of  Biblical,  Theo- 
logical, and  Ecclesiastical  Literature."  Germany  has  fur- 
nished a  large  majority  of  these  writers,  France  a  few, 
while  England  and  America  have  contributed  freely  to 
the  corps.  Each  critic, of  course,  has  his  own  style,  to  some 
extent  different  from  all  others.  On  a  cursory  reading, 
there  may  seem  a  lack  of  harmony,  and,  to  a  limited  ex- 
tent, conflicts  between  the  numerous  writers,  but  the  dis- 
crepancy largely  melts  away  on  closer  attention;  at  any 
rate,  the  main  facts  are  always  in  sight.  To  those  who 
have  not  the  time  or  inclination  to  further  pursue  the  sub- 
jects herein  treated  of,  this  summary  or  compendium, 
with  the  author's  deductions  from  the  numerous  writers 
consulted,  will  come  in  place  and  be  found  useful. 

We  think  the  evidence  warrants  the  statement  that  in 
the  infancy  of  Christianity,  honesty  and  ignorance  were 
the  only  factors,  and  this  may  truthfully  be  said  of  all  the 
ancient  religions,  thus  putting  Christianity,  at  the  outset, 
on  the  same  plane  with  all  the  ancient  systems. 

That  a  man  i  ailed  Jesus,  the  Christ,  the  Messiah,  etc, 
once  lived  is  quite  probable.  The  facts  to  be  inferred  from 
circumstances,  rather  than  from  direct  evidence,  seem  to 

warrant  such  a  ('inclusion.     The  Christ,  being  attached 

i  an  have  no  other  sig- 
nificance. What  evidence  we  have  points  mosl  strongly 
to  the  conclusion  that  hi  the  son  of  a  Roman  soldier 

ed  Panthera,  and  nol  the  child  of  Joseph. 
Leaving  the  four  gospels  oul  of  consideration,  on  the 


[82  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

ground  that  their  authenticity  is  unknown  and  that  they 
are  spurious,  we  have  no  direct  evidence  whatever  that 
such  a  man  ever  lived ;  but  the  fact  that  there  grew  up  in 
Judea  a  class  of  men  calling  themselves  Christians,  the 
followers  of  a  Christ  or  Jesus,  would  seem,  in  the  absence 
of  evidence  to  the  contrary,  to  warrant  the  belief  that  a 
real  man  once  lived  who  became  the  leader  of  a  sect 
called  Christians. 

As  to  the  historical  Jesus  Christ  of  the  gospels,  it  has 
been  proven  beyond  doubt  that  he  is  a  myth,  a  shadow. 
But  assuming  the  existence  of  a  Jesus  Christ,  a  resident 
of  Judea,  and  taking  Christian  evidence  for  our  principal 
guide,  the  Christ  probably  possessed  a  large  amount  of 
magnetism,  and  possibly  understood  something  of  the 
art  of  jugglery  learned  from  the  Egyptians.  With  the 
aid  of  this  art  and  his  own  magnetism,  he  naturally  drew 
around  him  a  number  of  sightseers  of  the  ignorant  class, 
who  believed  him  to  possess  supernatural  powers.  Such 
powers  at  that  time  and  among  that  class  of  ignorant 
people,  came  as  a  matter  of  course  from  a  supreme  being. 

His  devotees  in  the  course  of  time  became  numerous. 
They  saw  naught  but  the  marvelous  side,  believed  and 
told  of  wonderful  cures  performed  by  their  master.  In  the 
course  of  time  these  tales  extended  beyond  the  borders  of 
Judea,  and  as  they  were  retold  from  one  to  another,  they 
naturally  increased  in  marvelousness  until  the  hero  be- 
came one  of  the  Gods;  once  a  God,  he  performed  all  that 
was  expected,  and  all  that  had  been  foretold  concerning 
the  promised  Messiah;  in  short, the  Messiah  had  appeared. 
He  probably  died  a  natural  death ;  but  the  foundation  had 
been  laid,  and  all  the  rest  naturally  followed.  The  story 
of  his  crucifixion  and  resurrection  according  to  predic- 
tion, was  applied,  and  the  Christ  was  in  heaven,  soon  to 


And   Christian   Mythology.  183 

make  his  second  appearance  on  earth  and  look  after  his 
chosen  people.  In  such  a  frame- of  mind  there  was  noth- 
ing too  fabulous  to  conceive  of  and  report  about  the  de- 
parted Savior. 

Amid  the  excitement  and  declamations  concerning  his 
second  appearance,  no  one  thought  of  writing  anything 
concerning  him;  rude  churches  were  built  all  over  the 
Roman  Empire,  and  daily  discourses  delivered  therein  by 
the  more  intelligent  of  the  Christians.  Every  favorable 
report  concerning  the  Christ  was  a  piece  of  good-tidings, 
a  gospel.  A  hundred  years  elapsed,  and  the  Savior  failed 
to  appear;  his  followers  believed  themselves  mistaken  only 
as  to  time.  The  necessity  of  preserving  the  biography, 
the  sayings  and  doings,  of  the  Christ  naturally  suggested 
itself;  the  material  for  such  a  history  was  readily  found  in 
the  numerous  oral  declarations  afloat  everywhere.  Among 
these  oral  traditions  the  teachings  of  Philo,  Plato.  Apollo- 
nius,  Zoroaster,  Buddha,  Confucius,  and  other  pagan  phi- 
phers  bad  become  the  leading  features  of  the  stock  to 
be  draw:,  upon;  mixed  with  these  were  all  manner  of  sto- 
ries and  legends  too  ridiculous  to  be  entertained  by  the 
more  enlightened  of  the  Christians. 

Writer^  everywhere  sprang  up.  It  is  said  thai  the  sec- 
ond and  third  centuries  •  cially  prolific  in  such 
writings.  The  writings  at  the  East,  in  Asia,  were  tinct- 
ured largel)  with  the  religions  of  India,  Persia,  and 
China.  Those  of  Africa,  with  the  systems  of  Egypl  and 
the  I  [ebrews;  v.  hile  Europe  called  to  her  aid  the  religions 

of  the  Druids  and  Scandinavians. 

The  gospels  everywhere  differed.  The  church  had  lie- 
come  powerful  in  number,,  and  the  priests  in   influence, 

but  there  was  no  c< "1'  erl  - >f  action. 

The  priests,  at  all  times  mindful  of  their  interests,  saw 


184  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

the  necessity  of  union ;  in  union  they  could  control.  The 
priests  of  the  East  came  together  and  met  in  Council;  the 
Council  commenced  to  gather  up  and  sift  out  of  the  mass 
of  writings  such  as  suited  their  purposes,  for  the  end  in 
view  was  the  power  of  the  priesthood.  The  Councils,  for 
they  were  numerous,  selected  mostly  from  the  teachings 
of  Philo  and  Plato,  with  a  sprinkling  from  the  Oriental 
systems;  the  great  mass  of  other  gospels  was  rejected,  and 
a  crude  Testament,  or  Bible,  made  from  the  writings  of  the 
pagan  philosophers,  only  substituting  Christian  names, 
dates,  and  places  for  pagan  ones. 

This  same  process  was  followed  in  Europe  and  Africa, 
resulting  in  an  Eastern,  a  Southern,  and  a  Western 
church,  each  having  its  own  gospel  reduced  to  a  Bible. 
The  priests,  having  gained  the  first  point,  now  sought  to 
concentrate  in  one  church.  The  leading  priests  in  the 
three  divisions  agreed  to  meet  in  Council.  The  first  gen- 
eral Council,  which  convened  at  Nice,  did  little  else  than 
discuss  rules  and  lay  down  a  general  plan  to  get  into 
power  and  control  the  Christian  populace. 

The  second  great  Council  met  at  Nice  325  A.  C,  when 
the  great  work  of  consolidation  took  place;  attempts  to 
harmonize  the  gospels,  each  party  claiming  its  own,  re- 
sulted in  the  most  direful  conflict.  Notwithstanding  the 
Council  had  decreed  itself  infallible,  there  was  a  general 
overhauling  of  the  books,  each  party  conceding  some- 
thing for  the  general  good — no,  for  power  to  the  priest- 
hood, for  that  was  the  end  in  view.  A  patched-up  Bible 
was  created,  and  the  ecclesiastical  power  of  the  church 
centered  in  a  priesthood  ruled  by  bishops,  who  later  on 
selected  a  president,  called  a  pope. 

In  order  to  carry  out  their  purposes,  the  civil  powers 
needed  to  be  added.    Constantine,  although  a  pagan,  was 


And  Christian   Mtjtkoluay.  185 

called  in,  and  promised  the  aid  of  the  church  and  its  right- 
ing Christians,  when  he  became  a  party  to  this  infamous 
scheme.  We  have  seen  how  he  became  a  party  and  the 
head  of  the  church. 

The  church,  once  in  power,  determined  to  perpetuate 
itself  at  all  cost ;  no  value  was  placed  on  the  lives  of  the 
populace;  the  end  justified  any  means,  however  harsh  or 
cruel.  The  pagans  and  the  Jews  were  still  a  power  that 
might  be  used  to  crush  the  church;  this  power  must  be 
blotted  out;  Christianity  must  be  the  religion  of  the  world, 
and  its  priesthood  must  rule  all  mankind;  pagans  and 
Jews  alike  must  be  brought  into  the  church,  peaceably  if 
convenient,  forcibly  if  necessary;  torture  and  death  be- 
came the  rule.  The  church,  to  be  supreme  master,  could 
tolerate  no  dissenters;  dissenters  were  heretics;  heretics 
must  be  put  to  death  that  the  church  might  live.  How 
well  the  church  succeeded,  and  what  means  she  used,  we 
will  tell  in  what  follows. 

Records  of  the  Church  in  Evidence. 

We  will  now  proceed  and  put  in  evidence  some  of  tin- 
records  of  the  church,  from  its  earliest  dati  ially 
from  the  death  of  Constantine,  down  to  the  pre -cut  time. 
This  we  do  in  support  of  our  side  of  the  question :  Would 
the  wor!<l  have  been  better  off  if  the  church  had  never 
been  established? 

First  Crusade. 

We  first  offer  in  evidence  the  historical  records  of  tin- 
first  Crusade,  with  Peter  the  Herrnil  as  th<  r  of 
the  great  Christian  army,  commanded  b)  several  bishops 

of  the  holv  church. 


186  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

It  will  be  recollected  that  this  army  was  gathered 
from  every  part  of  Europe,  numbering  more  than  600,000 
fighting  Christians;  some  have  placed  the  number  at  over 
1,000,000.  This  is  exclusive  of  women  and  children,  who 
in  great  numbers  attended  the  army.  Their  aim,  as  you 
know,  was  to  recover  and  wrest  from  the  insolent  Sara- 
cens Jerusalem  and  the  holy  sepulcher,  where  it  is  said 
the  body  of  Christ  had  once  been  laid.  The  rendezvous, 
or  encampment,  from  which  to  make  a  united  start  was 
fixed  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Bosporus,  but  before  this 
point  could  be  reached,  the  various  divisions  had  to  trav- 
erse their  own  dominions,  and  in  some  cases,  the  terri- 
tory of  their  confederates. 

An  army  of  600,000  men  was  gathered  on  the  con- 
fines of  Gaul  and  Germany,  under  the  command  of  Walter 
the  Penniless.  So  sure  were  the  Crusaders  that  their  God, 
or  their  Gods,  for  they  then  had  three,  would  supply  them 
with  arms  and  provisions,  that  little  precaution  was  taken 
to  procure  those  things.  Walter,  from  the  time  of  start- 
ing in  his  own  territory,  commenced  a  system  of  foraging 
for  supplies  among  his  own  Christian  people.  In  this  he 
met  with  much  opposition,  which,  when  he  had  sufficient 
force,  he  crushed  without  stint,  putting  to  death  all  op- 
ponents, whether  Christians  or  infidels. 

In  passing  through  Verdun,  Treves,  Metz,  Spires,  and 
Worms  they  placed  a  goose  and  a  goat  at  the  head  of  the 
column  as  emblematic  of  their  faith  and  their  intelligence; 
on  the  road  they  murdered  every  Jew  within  their  reach. 
Many  of  the  Jews  were  tortured  in  the  most  inhuman 
manner;  thousands  of  men  were  massacred,  while 
many  others  took  their  own  lives  to  avoid  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  fiendish  mob. 

In  passing  through  Hungary  and  Bulgaria  the  same 


And    Christian    Mythology.  187 

system  of  pillage  and  murder  was  adopted.  These  coun- 
tries, having  been  forewarned,  raised  an  army  of  200,000 
Christians  with  which  they  slaughtered  over  40,000  of 
Walter's  Crusaders,  when  the  rest  of  them  fled,  first  to  the 
mountains,  and  then  to  Constantinople,  where  they  were 
given  protection  by  the  Roman  emperor.  In  return  for 
thi?  they  renewed  their  depredations.  The  emperor,  to 
get  rid  of  them,  gave  them  aid  and  quietly  crossed  them 
over  to  the  Asiatic  shore. 

All  Europe  in  Arms. 

All  Christian  Europe  (for  Europe  was  then  all  Christian, 
under  the  absolute  will  and  dominion  of  the  church)  was 
in  arms  for  the  holy  war.  The  motto  was,  the  more  infi- 
dels slaughtered,  the  more  Christ  would  be  glorified.  So 
each  of  these  Christian  soldiers  felt  it  a  duty  specially  en- 
joined upon  him  to  murder  as  many  unbelievers  as  pos- 
sible; the  more  the  victims  could  be  tortured,  the  greater 
the  reward  to  the  victor.  Spain,  Italy,  and  England  suf- 
fered little  less  than  France  during  the  exit  of  the  holy 
band  from  their  territories. 

When  all  were  landed  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Bos]><> 
rus,  the  lack  of  arms,  with  hunger  and  starvation  staring 
1  in  the  fact-,  began  to  be  realized.     Much  time  was 
spent, where  thousands  died  from  exposure  ami  star- 
vation; the  remnant,  many  of  them  sick  and  emaciated, 
took  up  their  march  for  the  Holy  Land. 

We  will  not  go  into  the  details  of  the  barbarities  of  this 

motley  horde  in  their  march  through  Vsia  Minor.  Suffice 

it  to  say  that,  in  that  country,  tins  ( Christian  band  of  ma- 
rauders had  to  contend  with  large  numbers  <>f  Saracens, 

who   constantly   harassed   the   rear,  and    frequently 

battle  to  the  (  rusaders.     In  this  way,  and  from  expo  mi. 


188  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

and  starvation,  the  ranks  of  the  Crusaders  from  day  to 
day  became  sadly  diminished ;  but  they  managed  to  tort- 
ure and  destroy  thousands  of  the  Saracens.  Torture  of 
the  women  and  children  by  slow  death  was  the  delight  of 
these  pious  warriors.  They  were  driven  to  such  straits  by 
hunger,  it  is  recorded,  that  they  killed  and  devoured  many 
of  their  own  children.  Quite  a  large  body  of  the  Cru- 
saders finally  reached  the  promised  land,  and  after  much 
delay  laid  siege  to  Jerusalem. 

After  long  siege,  and  when  despair  reigned  in  their 
camp,  a  holy  fraud  was  resorted  to;  they  had  dug  up  the 
real  cross,  which  they  reared  at  the  head  of  their  columns; 
so  excited  were  the  Christian  soldiers  at  the  sight  of  this 
emblem  that  a  rush  was  made  on  the  city. 

Capture  of  Jerusalem. 

A  shout  was  raised,  and  on  the  15th  day  of  July,  1099, 
the  walls  were  scaled  and  the  army  entered  the  holy  city, 
which  contained  about  100,000  people. 

I  will  stop  here  for  a  while  and  let  the  Rev.  James  White 
finish  the  story.  He  says:  "The  slaughter  lasted  six 
days,  stopping  only  long  enough  to  allow  these  pious 
Christians  to  offer  up  prayers.  When  they  entered  the 
mosque  of  Omar,  where  about  one-third  of  the  people  of 
the  city  had  shut  themselves  up  for  safety,  the  slaughter 
was  so  terrible  that  the  horses  were  in  blood  up  to  their 
girths."  We  here  add  that  these  Christians  also  took  time 
to  sleep  and  eat,  and  that  during  the  slaughter  hundreds 
of  babies  had  spears  run  through  their  bodies,  which  were 
hoisted  up  and  carried  through  the  streets  writhing  in 
agony.  The  most  brutal  tortures  were  inflicted  upon 
women  and  children.  A  few  Saracen  infidels,  as  they  were 
called,  made  their  escape,  all  others  perished.    Just  433 


And  Christian  Mythology.  189 

years  before  this  time  the  Saracens  captured  the  city  from 
the  Christians;  when  it  was  surrendered  to  Omah,  he 
would  not  even  allow  his  army  to  enter  the  city,  but 
offered  up  his  prayers  outside  the  walls,  so  tender  was  he 
of  the  feelings  of  the  Christians. 

In  1 177  A.  C,  just  sixty-eight  years  after  the  capture 
and  slaughter  by  the  crusading  horde,  the  city  was  re- 
taken by  the  Saracens  under  Saladin.  After  the  surrender 
not  a  soul  was  injured;  the  Greek  and  Oriental  Christians 
were  allowed  to  remain ;  all  others  were  given  sixty  days 
to  prepare  for  departure,  when  they  were  safely  escorted 
by  the  Saracen  army  to  places  of  their  own  choice.  Out 
of  the  vast  hordes  who  enlisted  in  this  Crusade,  but  a 
mere  handful  lived  to  get  back  to  Europe. 

Other  Crusading   Expeditions. 

There  were  nine  or  ten  crusading  expeditions  following 
the  rst  one,  covering  a  period  of  over  two  hundred  years. 
We  will  not  repeat  the  story  of  the  first  Crusade;  suffice  it 
to  say  that  owing  to  the  fewer  number  engaged  the  suffer- 
ings and  barbarities  were  not  on  so  extensive  a  scale  as  in 
the  first  expedition.  It  has  been  estimated  by  historians 
that  in  all  these  Crusades  against  the  infidels,  more  than 
15,000,000  of  lives  were  sacrificed.  What  for?  we  ask. 
The  answer  is  that  all  this  carnage  and  misery  was  to 
glorify  Christ,  and  to  recover  his  burial-place  from  unbe 
lievers. 

Records  of  the  Inquisition  in  Evidence. 

We  now  offer  in  evidence  the  historical  records  of  the 
inquisition. 


190  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

Persecutions  in  England. 

In  1543,  Queen  Mary  commenced  to  re-establish  the 
old  church,  and  in  less  than  four  years  Archbishop  Cran- 
mer,  Bishops  Hooper  and  Latimer,  and  many  other  clergy- 
men, with  over  three  hundred  of  their  disciples,  of  all  ages 
and  both  sexes,  were  burned  at  the  stake.  During  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  large  numbers  were  exe- 
cuted in  England  as  heretics.  In  1 160  thirty  heretics  went 
from  Germany  to  England  to  propagate  their  opinions; 
th«y  were  seized,  branded  on  the  foreheads,  whipped,  and 
thrust  into  the  streets  in  the  dead  of  winter;  no  one  daring 
to  relieve  them,  they  died  from  cold  and  hunger.  In  1401 
a  iaw  was  passed  in  England  permitting  the  priests  to  try, 
condemn,  and  burn  heretics.  General  slaughter  by  burn- 
ing followed  this  law,  says  Rev.  Mr.  White. 

Ai  the  coronation  of  Richard  I  there  was  a  wholesale 
slaughter  of  the  Jews  in  London  by  order  of  the  Christian 
priests.  Five  hundred  men,  with  their  families,  shut 
themselves  up  in  a  castle;  the  castle  was  besieged  by  a 
mob  of  Christians;  the  besieged  killed  themselves  to  avoid 
a  worse  death.  In  121 2,  in  England,  several  hundred  her- 
etics were  put  in  prison,  some  of  whom  had  their  eyes  put 
out,  others  had  their  teeth  pulled  out,  and  many  of  them 
were  butchered. 

The  last  person  executed  in  Great  Britain  for  heresy 
was  Thomas  Aikenhead,  of  Edinburgh,  1696.  In  1828  an 
old  law  of  England  requiring  the  taking  of  the  sacrament 
as  a  qualification  to  office  was  repealed. 

Justin  in  his  humanity  gave  all  heretics  three  months 
in  which  to  choose  between  exile  and  baptism;  70,000 
pagans  chose  the  latter  and  thereby  became  good  Chris- 
tians, but  the  Samaritans  preferred  the  chances  of  war, 


And  Christian  Mythology.  191 

with  the  result  of  the  loss    of   their    province,  and  the 
slaughter  of  100,000  of  its  people. 

Inquisition   Established. 

Although  the  inquisition  had  existed  in  fact  as  far 
back  as  the  eighth  century,  it  was  not  established  by  for- 
mal decree  until  the  meeting  of  the  Council  of  Toulouse 
in  1229;  six  years  before  this  an  inquisitorial  mission  was 
created  and  put  into  the  hands  of  the  Dominicans.  Pietro 
de  Verona  was  the  first  to  apply  the  torch.  He  was  assas- 
sinated April  6,  1252,  and  afterward  canonized  by  the 
church.  The  inquisition  laws  were  amended  or  new- 
articles  added  from  time  to  time  to  increase  the  torture, 
and  the  articles  went  so  far  as  to  authorize  the  mutilation 
of  the  bodies  of  the  dead  and  the  punishment  of  the  ser- 
vants of  the  rich. 

l.iorente,  in  his  "History  of  the  Inquisition,"  says: 
"The  hand  of  the  holy  office  (this  is  what  the  Christians 
called  it) was  outstretched  against  all;  no  degree  in  dignity 
in  church  or  state,  no  eminence  in  art  or  science,  and  no 
purity  of  life  could  stand  its  madness.  War  was  made  on 
books  of  every  kind ;  700,000  volumes  were  burned  in  the 
temple  of  Serapis  at  Alexandria  by  order  of  the  Christian 
Emperor  Theodosius." 

"In  the  love  of  Christ  and  his  maiden  mother,*'  s;i\n 
(jueen  Isabella,  "I  have  caused  great  misery,  depopulated 
towns,  districts,  provinces,  and  kingdoms." 

Llorente  gives  the  figures  31.912  burned  alive.   17,659 
imprisoned  and  tortured,  291,450  penitents,  whose  tort 
ure  was  little  better  than  death,  a  total  of  341,051  during 
the  term  of  his  off"  cretary  of  the  inquisition.    Aftei 

the  list  of  heretics  had  been  exhausted,  the  Christian  kinp 
and  ihe  queen  of  CaMile  turned  the  car  of  vengeance  or 


192  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

to  the  Jews  and  Moors.  For  persecution  of  the  Jews,  see 
further  on. 

The  age  at  which  children  could  be  tried,  condemned, 
and  burned  was  for  boys  ten  and  one-half  years,  and  nine 
and  one-half  years  for  girls.  None  were  so  high  in  rank 
or  power  as  to  escape  the  torch ;  even  bishops  and  priests 
suspected  of  leniency  to  heretics  were  subjected  to  the 
torch.  It  was  made  the  duty  of  all  to  hunt  up  and  give 
information;  if  anyone  failed  in  this  he  was  treated  as  a 
heretic.  The  suspects  were,  without  notice,  arrested  and 
thrown  into  the  most  loathsome  dungeons,  where  they 
sometimes  lay  for  years.  Occasionally  they  were  brought 
out,  put  on  the  rack,  and  tortured  for  a  confession  or  de- 
nial ;  if  they  confessed  they  were  thrust  back  into  the  dun- 
geon and  made  to  do  penance  worse  than  death.  All  per- 
sons suspected  of  having  any  knowledge  were  summoned 
as  witnesses;  if  they  stubbornly  refused  to  testify,  or 
seemed  to  favor  the  accused,  torture  was  applied  to  them. 

A  heretic  could  not  testify  in  favor  of  a  heretic,  but  was 
compelled  to  testify  against  him;  the  houses  of  all  persons 
harboring  heretics  were  destroyed  and  the  inmates  ar- 
rested. 

Frederick  Barbarossa  said  the  sword  had  been  given 
him  to  smite  the  enemies  of  Christ.  Every  official  took 
an  oath  to  prosecute  heretics  to  extermination ;  no  tie  of 
kindred  served  as  an  excuse;  the  son  must  denounce  the 
father,  and  the  husband  was  guilty  if  he  failed  to  deliver 
up  his  wife  to  be  burned.  All  trials  were  held  in  secret; 
the  accused  had  no  opportunity  of  seeing  his  accusers;  all 
doubts  were  resolved  against  the  accused.  When  con- 
demned, confiscation  of  property  and  death  followed. 

Heretics  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages  were  outlaws;  there 
was  no  statute  of  limitation;  the  children  to  the  second 


And  Christian  Mythology.  193 

generation  were  disqualified  from  holding  office;  defend- 
ers of  heretics  were  to  be  treated  as  heretics,  their  chil- 
dren disinherited  and  their  property  confiscated.  Rulers 
and  judges  were  required  to  take  an  oath  to  use  their  ut- 
most endeavors  to  exterminate  all  unbelievers,  under  pen- 
alty of  forfeiture  of  office;  an  arrest  on  suspicion  was 
generally  equivalent  to  conviction  and  death.  Even  the 
death  of  the  person  accused  did  not  stop  the  prosecution ; 
the  trial  went  on  against  the  dead  heretic;  his  body  was 
mutilated  and  his  property  confiscated.  Even  if  he  had 
died  a  natural  death,  and  if  at  any  time  thereafter  it  was 
ivered  that  he  had  been  a  heretic,  his  body  was  taken 
from  the  grave,  tried,  condemned,  and  mutilated. 

In  897  Pope  Stephen  VI  I  caused  the  body  of  his  pre- 
decessor (suspected  of  favoring  a  heretic),  then  seven 
months  in  the  grave,  to  be  dug  up,  dragged  by  the  heels, 
and  set  up  in  the  synod,  where  the  body  was  tried  and 
condemned,  two  fingers  cutoff  and  thrown  into  the  Tiber, 
and  the  body  reburied.  In  905  this  same  body  was  again 
taken  out  of  the  grave  by  order  of  Sergius  III,  clothed  in 
its  pontifical  robes,  seated  on  the  throne,  tried,  con- 
demned, and  beheaded,  when  three  more  fingers  were  cut 

off  and  thrown  into  the  Tiber. 

We  cite  this  as  a  single  case  out  of  thousands  who  were 
punished  after  death,  onl)  to  show-  thai  the  doctrim 
Christianity  were  duly  promulgated  and  enforced. 

With  absolute  sway  overall  Europe,  with  this  ma- 
chinery for  conversion  al  its  command,  the  church,  after 
n>'. re  thai  ha    succeeded  in  bringing  into  its 

fold  as  actual  supporters  j<>o,<xh),(xx>,  leaving  [,300,000,- 
-onls  unconverted  to  ( Ihristianit) . 

Joseph  Bonaparte,  in  [808,  with  his  arm)  in  Spain,  sup 
pn    sed  this  machinery  for  making  Christians.     Llorente, 


191  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

the  historian,  says:  "After  the  hands  of  Napoleon  had 
been  taken  off,  the  institution  revived  in  Rome  and  Mad- 
rid, but  its  teeth  were  gone  and  it  could  do  little  but  show 
a  murderous  will." 

If  we  be  told  that  the  trial  of  heretics  is  past,  that  it  is 
one  of  the  things  of  the  dark  ages,  our  answer  will  be  that 
heretics  were  burned  as  late  as  the  early  part  of  the  19th 
century;  that  the  inquisition  was  introduced  into  the 
Spanish-American  colonies,  where,  in  Mexico,  Cartha- 
gena,  and  Lima,  it  rivaled  in  severity  that  of  Spain,  and 
that  within  the  last  few  years  one  Catholic  and  five  Prot- 
estant clergymen  have  been  tried  in  free  America  for  her- 
esy; but  they  were  not  burned  at  the  stake  for  want  of 
power  in  the  church. 

Persecutions  in  France. 

In  1525  the  Catholics  in  France  made  general  war  on 
the  Protestants  and  massacred  great  numbers  of  them. 
On  the  24th  of  August,  1572,  at  the  Bartholomew  massa- 
cre, Scully  says:  "Seventy  thousand  French  Huguenots 
were  slaughtered,  neither  age  nor  sex  was  spared."  In 
Paris  alone  more  than  10,000  suffered  death;  extreme  tort- 
ure was  the  rule.  This  wholesale  murder  took  place  be- 
tween Christians,  and  on  the  sole  ground  of  honest  differ- 
ence of  opinion  on  religious  matters.  In  1723,  in  the  same 
country,  Protestant  assemblies  were  forbidden,  churches 
pulled  down,  and  death  was  decreed  to  all  who  should 
harbor  heretics. 

Spanish  Persecutions. 

Rev.  James  White,  in  his  "Eighteen  Centuries,"  says: 
"In  the  thirteenth  century  came  the  order  in  Spain  for  the 
first  crusade  against  heretics  in  the  province  of  Langue- 
doc,  instigated  by  Dominic  Guzman,  and  under  the  com- 


And  Christian  Mythology.  195 

mand  of  Simon  de  Montfort.  To  his  standard  flocked  the 
devout  from  all  parts  of  Europe.  The  pious  Guzman  gave 
orders,  saying:  'Ravish  every  field,  slay  every  human  be- 
ing, and  the  blessing  will  be  with  you;  Soon  word  was 
sent  that  the  crusaders  could  not  distinguish  orthodox 
from  heretics;  the  answer  came  back:  'Slaughter  all;  God 
will  take  care  of  his  own.' "  St.  Dominic,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  carnage,  wrote  the  pope  regretting 
that  he  had  so  far  been  unable  to  destroy  more  than  20,- 
000  heretics.  Mr.  White  further  says:  "Over  a  quarter 
of  a  million  victims  was  the  result  of  the  slaughter  for  her- 
esy in  one  province." 

Persecution  of  the  Jews. 

When  the  supply  of  heretics  and  infidels  gave  out,  the 
persecution  of  the  Jews  commenced  at  wholesale. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Christ  was  a  Jew,  that  he 
followed  in  the  wake  of  his  early  teachers,  preaching  the 
doctrines  of  Judaism,  and  finally,  in  common  with  several 
others,  claim  el  to  be  the  long-looked-for  Jewish  Messiah. 
EJis  follow*  rs  were  for  the  first  century  looked  upon  by 
the  Romans  as  a  seel  of  the  Jews,  while  by  the  Hebrews 
they  were  characterized  as  Nazarenes;  nor  was  it  until  the 
beginning  of  the  second  century  thai  they  threw  <>\'\  the 
old  coat  of  Judaism  and  took  on  that  of  <  Christians.  Now, 
as  children  of  [srael,  having  in  number  outgrown  the  par 
ent  stock,  and  having  learned  t<i  despise  their  ancestors, 
let  us  look  at  the  acti<  in  of  the  child  toward  its  parent. 

The  pei  ecution  of  the  de  pised  race,  as  the  I  Christians 
called  the  Jews,  began  at  an  early  date.    Finding  the  Jew  s 

too  stubborn,  the  followers  Of  the  meek  and  lowl)    turned 

their  attention  to  the  world  of  pagans.  As  it  is  not  the 
purpose  of  this  work  to  go  into  details,  we  will  pass  ovei 


196  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

the  first  nine  centuries  of  Christian  sway,  with  the  state- 
ment that  during  that  early  time  Christian  doctrines  had 
not  fully  ripened,  the  true  Christian  spirit  had  not  fully 
developed,  nor  were  the  nations  of  Europe  so  far  sunk 
in  barbarism  as  to  tolerate  the  enforcement  of  true  Chris- 
tianity by  fire  and  sword.  That  time  was  reached  about 
the  closelof  the  tenth  century,  when  the  Christian  church 
held  all  Europe  in  its  grasp;  kings  and  emperors  trembled 
at  the  edicts  and  bulls  of  the  vicegerent  of  Christ.  As  the 
octopus  holds  its  victim  in  his  death  struggle,  so  the  priest 
held  the  lives  and  liberty  of  the  people  and  their  property 
in  his  clerical  fangs.  When  the  mythological  ruler  belched 
forih  his  decrees  and  hurled  his  anathemas,  all  was  as  si- 
lent as  the  grave;  science  had  been  nipped  in  the  bud,  no 
writings  in  conflict  or  antagonism  to  the  church  were  al- 
lowed; all  books,  before  publication,  had  to  undergo  in- 
spection by  the  church,  and  if  found  obnoxious  in  the 
slightest  degree,  were  destroyed.  All  attempts  by  the  peo- 
ple to  acquire  general  knowledge  were  stamped  upon, 
unless  conducted  under  the  supervision  of  the  church.  It 
was  under  this  state  of  things  that  the  humane  and  benev- 
olent spirit  of  Christianity  dawned  upon  the  followers  of 
Abraham  and  Moses,  by  burning,  roasting,  torturing, 
maiming,  and  finally  putting  to  death  more  than  one-half 
of  the  Hebrew  race. 

We  forbear  going  into  the  refined  Christian  devices  of 
torture,  except  to  a  limited  extent,  lest  we  shock  the  holy 
church  and  its  mythologians,  and  thereby  create  a  ten- 
dency to  lessen  their  power,  diminish  their  private  in- 
comes and  luxurious  benefices  and  maintenance. 

It  is  well-established  history  that  in  France  alone,  thou- 
sands of  Jews  were  burned  at  the  stake.  On  one  occasion 
one  hundred  and  sixty  men,  women,  and  children  were 


And  Christ  in  a  Mythology.  197 

bound  hand  and  foot  and  thrown  into  a  ditch,  wood  was 
piled  on  them,  and  the  torch  applied,  while  numbers  of 
priests  stood  by  with  uplifted  hands  calling  on  their  Savior 
to  witness  the  suffering-  of  the  unbelieving-  Jews;  whole 
families  were  burned  in  this  funeral  pyre  for  the  reason 
that  the  pious  Christians  could  not  see  them  separated. 

Only  few  and  far  between,  says  one  historian,  were  the 
Christian  monarchs  who  rose  above  the  barbarities  of  the 
church. 

From  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  centuries,  says  an- 
other historian,  the  history  of  the  Jews  is  a  succession  of 
massacres.  Philip  Augustus  confiscated  their  property 
and  banished  them  from  France. 

Louis  IX,  a  very  pious  prince,  says  an  historian,  confis- 
cated a  third  of  the  property  of  the  Jews  for  the  benefit  of 
his  own  soul,  and  at  the  same  time  issued  an  edict  for  the 
destruction  of  their  sacred  books  by  fire;  in  this  fire  four 
cartloads  of  the  Talmud  were  consumed. 

A  large  share  of  this  confiscated  property  was  given 
over  to  the  priests,  to  intercede  with  Christ  for  the  salva- 
tion of  the  monarch's  soul. 

In  the  reign  of  Philip  the  Fair,  [306  A.  G,  the  Jews 
(having  returned  to  France)  were  again  expelled  from  the 

country  with  the  usual  accompaniment   of  cruelty,   says 
another  author.     The  financial  condition  of  the  country 
tme  embarrassed,  and  the  Jews  were  permitted  to  re- 
turn. 

In  [321,  a  religious  epidemic  having  seized  the  faithful, 
an  uprising  took  place,  when  the  poor,  unfortunate  Jews 
.  without    regard  to  age    or    sex,    indiscriminately 
slaughtered,  [n  their  flight  and  frenzj  the  Jews  al  Verdan 
threw  their  children  into  tl  the  infu- 

riated   Christian    mob.     In  the  following  year  in  whole 


198  Commentaries  on  Hebron' 

provinces  every  Jew  was  burned.     Finally,  in  1395,  they 
were  indiscriminately  banished  from  middle  France. 

In  the  time  of  the  first  crusading  spirit,  in  the  cities  of 
Treves,  Metz,  Mainz,  Worms,  Spires,  Strasburg,  and 
other  smaller  places,  the  streets  were  deluged  with  the 
blood  of  the  Jews  and  other  unbelievers,  at  the  hands  of 
tntse  pious  warriors. 

The  Jews  were  expelled  from  Vienna  in  1196;  from 
Mecklenburg  in  1225;  from  Breslau  in  1226;  from  Bran- 
denburg in  1243;  from  Frankfort  in  1241;  from  Munich 
in  1285;  from  Nuremburg  in  1380;  from  Prague  in  1391, 
and  from  Ratisbon  in  1476. 

From  1346  to  1350  the  Jews  were  murdered  by 
thousands,  until  the  race  in  Germany  became  nearly  ex- 
tinct. 

In  Switzerland  the  Christians  commenced  to  persecute 
the  Jews  about  the  middle  of  the  14th  century;  and  in  the 
15th  they  were  expelled  from  the  principal  cities  in  that 
country. 

In  Spain,  during  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries,  the 
Jews  were  persecuted  without  mercy.  When  the  Moors 
invaded  Spain,  the  Jews  lent  a  helping  hand,  so  glad  were 
the y  to  escape  Christian  tortures ;  they  were  made  equals 
wherever  the  Moors  held  sway,  while  in  the  Christian 
provinces  the  persecutions  were  carried  on  in  that  refined 
manner  known  only  to  the  followers  of  the  cross. 

In  1391-92,  in  five  provinces,  held  by  the  followers  of 
Christ,  untold  numbers  of  Jews  were  murdered  and  their 
property  was  confiscated  to  the  church.  Escape,  says  one 
historian,  was  possible  only  through  flight  to  Africa  or  by 
accepting  baptism  at  the  point  of  the  sword.  The  number 
of  converts  so  made  at  that  time  has  been  estimated  at 
200,000. 


And  Christian  Mythology.  199 

Such  a  vast  number  of  stubborn  Jews,  so  quickly  con- 
verted and  thereby  brought  under  the  mild  influence  of 
Christianity,  must  have  been  as  gratifying  to  the  followers 
of  Christ  as  assuring  to  the  adherents  of  Moses. 

To  say  the  least  of  it,  this  process  is  much  more  expedi- 
tious, if  not  more  soothing  and  lasting,  than  the  tedious 
mode  of  reasoning;  besides,  it  is  in  strict  accordance  with 
the  teachings  and  rules  of  the  mythologian. 

In  speaking  of  this  affair,  one  writer  says:  "The  fate 
of  the  Jews  in  Spain  during  the  fifteenth  century  beggars 
description."  He  further  says:  "Persecutions,  violent 
conversions,  massacre,  the  torture  of  the  inquisition,  we 
read  of  nothing  else!  At  length  the  hour  of  final  horror 
came,  when  in  1492  an  edict  was  issued  from  those  pious 
rulers,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  by  which  the  Jews  were 
given  four  months  within  which  to  leave  the  country 
empty-handed,  to  accept  baptism,  or  to  suffer  death." 

I  being  claimed  by  the  priests  that  the  teachings  of 
Christ  Forbade  the  spilling  of  human  blood,  to  avoid  the 
breach  of  their  master's  precepts,  these  pious  men  ordered 
their  victims  to  be  burned  to  death.  This  the  Jews  well 
knew  to  be  the  fate  of  those  who  failed  to  leave  their 
honie-  and  country  or  become  Christians.     The  numbers 

who  are  said  to  have  chosen  to  abandon  the  country  in 
which  they  and  their  ancestors  had  resided  for  seven  cent- 
uries have  been  variously  estimated  at  from  three  to  eight 
hundred  thousand.  Every  person  in  Spain  was  forbidden 
to  shelter  or  feed  them  in  their  transit,  and  almost  every 
Christian  country  shut  its  doors  againsl  them. 

As  they  were  forbidden  to  take  away  with  them  gold  Or 
silver,  their  condition  was  heart   rending  in  the  extreme. 

All  except  the  devout  Christians,  and.  it  is  said,  even 
some  of  these,  shed  tears  over  the  departure   of  these 


'200  Commentaries  on   BebretO 

wretched  beings ;  but  from  that  divine  order  of  priesthood 
not  a  tear  dropped,  nor  was  a  moan  heard  to  disturb  the 
peace  and  tranquillity  of  their  Christian  souls.  Some  of 
the  fugitives  ventured  into  Italy  and  France,  but  by  far 
the  greater  number  turned  their  faces  toward  Morocco. 

Of  all  the  vast  hordes  who  left  Spain,  more  than  one- 
half  died  from  exposure  and  hunger  before  reaching  their 
destination.  Some  80,000  bought  of  the  Christian  sover- 
eign of  Portugal  a  stop-over  privilege  until  they  could 
earn  money  enough  to  go  on. 

After  the  lapse  of  the  time  for  their  exit,  many  lingered, 
being  unable  to  get  away.  King  Emanuel,  in  the  tender- 
ness of  his  Christian  heart,  sold  into  slavery  many  of  the 
more  common  Jews,  and  by  an  edict  he  ordered  all  the 
children  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  of  the  better  class, 
to  be  taken  from  their  parents  and  turned  over  to  the 
Christian  brothers  to  be  brought  up  in  the  true  faith. 

This  piece  of  refined  cruelty  drove  many  of  the  mothers 
to  destroy  their  offspring  rather  than  let  them  fall  into 
the  hands  of  their  persecutors.  Those  who  accepted 
forced  baptism,  but  who  for  the  most  part  secretly  ad- 
hered to  their  old  faith,  were  constantly  on  the  rack  of 
torture. 

The  Reformation — Luther  and  Calvin. 

It  will  not  do  to  say  that  these  persecutions  were  all  by 
the  Catholics.  During  most  of  the  time  they  were  in 
progress,  there  was  no  other  Christian  church,  but  even 
after  the  Protestants  gained  the  ascendency,  there  was  no 
abatement  of  these  cruelties.  Luther  and  Calvin,  while 
claiming  the  utmost  liberty  of  conscience  for  themselves, 
denied  it  to  all  others.  Luther  denounced  Copernicus, 
the  astronomer,  and,  says  his  biographer,  he  looked  with 


And  Christian  Mythology.  201 

a  favorable  eve  on  the  adoption  of  violent  measures  for  the 
conversion  of  the  Jews  and  others. 

He  was  extremeh  vile  in  the  epithets  which  he  applied 
to  men  of  learning,  calling  them  such  names  as  locusts, 
caterpillars,  frogs,  lice,  etc.  To  Aristotle  he  applied  the 
epithets  of  devil,  prince  of  darkness,  beast,  impostor,  liar, 
etc. 

Xo  one  can  mistake  the  character  of  the  man  from  the 
use  of  such  language. 

As  for  Calvin,  after  he  had  fled  from  place  to  place  to 
escape  arrest  and  punishment  for  his  opinions,  he  finally 
settled  in  Geneva,  where  he  gained  such  influence  and 
control  as  to  establish  ecclesiastical  over  civil  law,  therebv 
giving  him  power  over  that  city.  In  1555  he  banished  the 
officials  for  attempting  to  maintain  civil  institutions;  to 
do  this  was,  to  Calvin,  heresy. 

A  controversy  having  arisen  between  Calvin  and  Ser- 
vetus  on  the  dogma  of  the  trinity,  and  the  latter  having 
fled  to  escape  the  wrath  of  the  former,  Calvin  sent  his 
emissaries  to  Vienna,  where,  in  conjunction  with  the 
Catholics,  he  had  Servetus  arrested,  broughl  to  Geneva, 
trier!  for  heresy,  condemned,  taken  oul  on  a  hill  near  the 
city,  tied  to  a  stake,  green  wood  piled  around  him  and  a 
fire  applied,  where  Servetus  was  slowly  roasted  to  death 
on  Oct.  26.  [553.  Shortly  after  this,  Jerome  Bolsesr 
a  point  as  to  Calvin's  doctrine  of  predestination.  To  this 
Calvin  told  Bolses  thai  no  dissenting  opinions  would  be 
tolerated;  Bolses,  not  recanting,  was  banished  from  the 
city. 

An  author,  in  speaking  of  the  hardships  of  the  Jews, 
says:  "Thai  the  Reformal  no  aid  to  the  rewa  is 

only  too  plain,  from  the  fad  thai  in  mam-  parti  of  Protest- 
ant Gcrmanv  their  lot  became  Harder  than  before." 


i$02  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

The  Jews  were  driven  out  of  Protestant  Bavaria  in 
1553 ;  out  of  Brandenburg  in  1573.  In  the  Protestant  city 
of  Hamburg,  in  1730,  they  were  persecuted  in  the  most 
inhuman  manner;  and  during  the  whole  of  the  seven- 
teenth and  a  part  of  the  eighteenth  centuries  Protestant 
Germany  increased  its  persecutions.  This  author  con- 
cludes by  saying:  "What  really  caused  the  change  in 
their  favor  was  the  great  uprising  of  human  reason  that 
marked  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century." 

Notwithstanding  that  Luther  was  petulant,  dogmatical, 
and  intolerant,  he  had  some  good  qualities;  but  as  to  Cal- 
vin, his  biography  stands  in  the  way  of  saying  anything 
good  of  him;  among  his  crimes  that  of  the  murder  of 
Servetus  can  never  be  excused. 

At  the  present  time  the  Jews  have  had  their  property 
confiscated  and  are  being  driven  out  of  Russia  by  the 
Christian  emperor  of  that  country,  on  the  ground  that 
they  cannot  and  do  not  believe  in  the  dogmas  of  Chris- 
tianity. All  who  will  accept  baptism  and  become  Chris- 
tians are  exempt  from  this  cruel  edict. 

The  Puritans  fled  from  Europe  to  America  to  avoid 
persecution  for  religious  opinions,  but  no  sooner  had  they 
set  foot  on  the  soil  of  New  England  than  they  enacted 
the  most  cruel  penal  laws  and  enforced  them  on  all  dis- 
senters. 

Prof.  Huxley  says:  "If  we  could  only  see  in  one  view 
the  torrents  of  hypocrisy  and  cruelty,  the  lies,  the  slaugh- 
ter, the  violation  of  every  obligation  of  honesty  which  have 
flowed  from  this  source  along  the  course  of  the  history  of 
Christian  nations,  our  imagination  of  hell  would  pale  be- 
side the  vision."  He  further  says:  "And  the  wolf  would 
play  the  same  havoc  now  if  it  could  only  get  its  blood- 
stained jaws  free  from  the  muzzle  imposed  by  the  secular 


And  Christian  Mythology.  203 

arm."     Yes,  the   clerical   wolf   lets  go  only  when  he  is 
forced  to  do  so,  and  then  only  drops  one  bone  at  a  time. 

I  Jnder  the  enlightened  influence  of  reason,  science,  and 
growing  humanity,  fiery  Hades  has  fallen  into  disrepute, 
and  the  more  enlightened  of  the  clergy  have  adopted 
courses  of  lectures  instead  of  sermons  wherein  the  tor- 
ments of  hell  used  to  be  portrayed  from  the  pulpits  in  all 
their  hideousness. 

Dark  Ages. 

We  now  offer  in  evidence  the  shadow  of  the  dark  ages, 
covering  a  period  of  a  thousand  years,  from  the  fifth  to  the 
fifteenth  century,  when  the  church  held  absolute  dominion 
and  sway  over  every  government  and  people  of  Europe. 
Under  its  exercise  of  power,  religion  took  the  place  of 
learning;  monasteries  and  cloisters  took  the  place  of  col- 
leges; monks,  bishops,  and  priests  took  the  place  of  states- 
men; ecclesiastical  dogmas  the  place  of  civil  law;  the 
thumbscrew,  sharpened  spikes,  and  other  devices  such 
only  as  devout  Christians  could  invent,  took  the  place  o\ 
free  thought;  prayers  and  images  took  the  place  of  sci- 
ence and  art,  libraries  were  burned,  and  all  reading  was 
forbidden. 

The  first  society  for  the  promotion  of  physical  science, 
founded  at  Naples  by  Baptista  Porta,  and  the  Accademia 
del  Ciemento,  i  tablished  at  Florence,  1657,  were  sup- 
pressed by  the  ecclesiastical  authorities. 

lileo,  for  having  committed  the  crime  of  discover- 
ing that  the  earth  revolved  on  its  axis,  Copernicus 
for  having  discovered  thai  the  planets  revolved  around  the 
sun,  and  Bruno  for  having  announced  the  plurality  oi 
worlds,  were  each  told  by  the  church  thai  such  things 
were  againsl  the  Bible,  and   could  nol  be  promulgated 


204  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

under  pain  of  death.  Bruno  was  burned  at  the  stake  for 
refusing  to  recant.  Vanini,  one  of  Italy's  brightest  schol- 
ars, for  the  offense  of  being  the  author  of  some  philo- 
sophical works,  was  arrested  at  Taurisona,  tried,  and  con- 
victtd  of  heresy,  tied  to  a  stake,  told  to  put  out  his  tongue, 
and  on  refusal,  it  was  drawn  out  with  irons  and  cut  off;  a 
fire  was  kindled  around  him,  when  his  sufferings  were  re- 
lieved by  death,  July  9,  1619. 

Nypatia,  one  of  the  most  refined  ladies  of  Alexandria, 
a  teacher  of  mathematics  and  philosophy  to  the  most 
learned  men  of  the  Roman  Empire,  was,  by  order  of 
Bishop  Cyril,  stripped  naked  by  a  gang  of  monks,  who 
dragged  her  from  the  academy  through  the  streets,  took 
her  into  a  church,  where  they  murdered  her,  after  which 
they  scraped  the  flesh  off  the  bones  with  shells  and 
burned  it.  This  piece  of  Christian  refinement  took  place 
in  the  year  414  A.  C,  and  was,  as  Cyril  said,  done  as  a 
warning  to  others  not  to  teach  doctrines  antagonistic  to 
the  church. 

Following  this  act,  and  in  obedience  to  the  church. 
Justinian,  the  devout  emperor,  closed  all  of  the  philosoph- 
ical schools  of  Athens.  We  here  offer  these  humane  acts 
in  evidence  in  support  of  the  almost  daily  assertions  of 
the  pope  and  his  satellites  that  their  church  has  always 
been  the  friend  and  supporter  of  liberty  of  speech,  freedom 
of  action,  and  human  progress. 

Crime  and  religion  are  fellow-companions;  science, 
progress,  and  humanity  were  dead;  the  church  was  happy, 
while  monks,  priests,  bishops,  and  clergymen  shouted 
psalms,  hymns,  prayers,  and  doxologies  over  the  grave. 


And  Christian  Mythology.  205 

Witch-burning  by  the  Church. 

"Thou  shalt  not  suffer  a  witch  to  live." — Exodus  xxii, 
18. 

"A  man,  also  a  woman,  that  hath  a  familiar  spirit,  or 
that  is  a  wizard,  shall  surely  be  put  to  death." — Leviticus 
xx,  27. 

"And  Saul  had  put  away  those  that  had  familiar  spirits 
and  the  wizards  out  of  the  land." — I  Samuel  xxviii,  3. 

Let  the  following  records  tell  how  well  the  church 
obeyed  these  commands  and  precepts  of  the  holy  Bible. 

In  spite  of  Christianity  the  world  having  outgrown  the 
inquisition,  it  was  left  for  the  church  to  hunt  up  another 
class  of  victims,  and  this  it  was  not  slow  to  do. 

It  now  turns  its  shafts  of  vengeance  and  pours  its  vials 
of  pious  wrath  on  another  innocent  class,  denominated 
witches:  a  class  supposed  to  be  in  league  with  the  devil 
against  the  church  and  all  good  Christians. 

The  following  comprises  a  few  of  the  first  pages  of  this 
record : 

In  1484  Pope  Innocent  issued  a  bull  to  punish  witches; 

under  this  decree  tens  of  thousands  were  burned  alive, 

says  Bishop  Hutchinson.     On  May  30,  1431.  Joan  of  Arc 

burned  at  the  stake.     In  three  months  of  the  year 

1524  five  hundred  were  burned  in  Germany.     The  total 

number  burned  in  Germany  alone,  says  Mr.  Hutchinson, 
hed  the  incredible  number  of  m>o,ooo.  In  [520  an  in- 
credible number  were  burned  in  France,  the  figures  not 
given.  Nine  hundred  were  burned  between  [580  and 
1595  at  Wurzburg.  At  Leinheim  thirty  were  burned  in 
four  years,  oul  of  a  population  of  si>  hundred.  In  [634 
the  parish  priest  of  London  was  burned  on  a  charge  of  be 
witching  a  whole  convent.     1>  enty  women  wen- 


206  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

burned  at  Beslague.  In  1749  Renata  was  burned  at 
Wurtenburg.  On  Jan.  17,  1775,  at  Kalis,  Poland,  nine 
women  were  burned  on  a  charge  of  bewitching,  and 
thereby  rendering  land  unproductive.  In  1664  Sir  Mat- 
thew Hale  burned  two.  In  1670  eighteen  were  burned  in 
Essex,  England.  From  1775  to  1777  nine  were  burned 
in  Northampton,  England.  In  1716  Mrs.  Hix  and  her 
daughter,  aged  nine  years,  were  hung  as  witches  at  Hunt- 
ingdon. 

The  historian  Barrington  estimates  the  total  number 
of  witches  burned  in  England  at  30,000. 

Mr.  Henry  Charles  Lee,  in  his  "History  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion," says  that  Protestants  and  Catholics  rivaled  each 
other  in  the  madness  of  the  hour;  witches  were  no  longer 
burned  in  ones  and  twos,  but  in  scores  and  hundreds.  He 
further  says  that  the  Bishop  of  Geneva  burned  five  hun- 
dred in  three  months;  that  a  Bishop  of  Ramburg  burned 
six  hundred;  a  Bishop  of  Wurzburg  burned  nine  hun- 
dred; that  eight  hundred  were  condemned  in  a  body  at 
Savoy;  that  in  the  spring  of  1556  the  Archbishop  of 
Treves  burned  one  hundred  and  eighteen  women,  and 
that  Bishop  Paramo  boasted  that  in  a  century  and  a  half 
the  holy  office  had  burned  at  least  50,000. 

Estimates  of  the  total  number  of  witches  put  to  death 
by  the  church  run  from  seven  and  a  half  to  fourteen 
millions;  nine  millions,  says  one  author,  would  be  a  con- 
servative statement. 

In  Salem,  Mass.,  nineteen  were  hanged,  eight  others 
were  condemned,  fifty  confessed    and    were    pardoned. 

Will  some  kind  teacher  of  divinity  advise  us  to  whom 
credit  is  due  for  the  destruction  of  so  many  cruel  witches? 
Shall  it  be  given  to  Jehovah,  to  the  Bible,  to  the  myth- 
ologian,  or  to  the  general  humane  spirit  of  the  Christian 


And  Christian  Mythology.  207 

system — a  system  resting  on  its  code,  the  Bible,  a  book 
made  up  largely  of  a  heterogeneous  mass  of  absurdities, 
contradictions,  childish  jargon,  myths,  legends,  and  su- 
preme nonsense;  a  sublime  production,  well  worthy  the 
genius  and  combined  wisdom  of  popes,  priests,  bishops, 
and  ecumenical  councils;  a  book  extremely  edifying  and 
instructive  to  the  devout  because  of  its  incomprehensible 
vagaries,  giving  scope  to  a  vast  number  of  speculations 
and  theories,  ending  in  guesses,  disagreements,  inter- 
minable disputes  and  quarrels,  and  the  slaughter  of  mill- 
ions of  innocent  men,  women,  and  children. 

The  Pope  and  the  Priesthood. 

The  bull  of  Hildebrand,  Pope  Gregory  VII,  promul- 
gated 1075,  specially  directed  against  Henry  IV  of  Ger- 
many, among  other  matters,  contains  the  following  pro- 
visions: The  Roman  church  was  founded  by  God.  The 
Roman  pontiff  is  universal.  The  pope  may  use  the  in- 
signia of  empire.  He  is  the  only  person  whose  feel  are 
kissed  by  all  princes;  he  may  depose  emperors.  No 
scriptures  or  books  are  canonical  without  his  authority. 
His  decrees  can  be  annulled  by  no  one.  He  may  be 
judged  by  no  one.  No  one  may  dare  to  condemn  a  per- 
son who  appeals  to  the  pope.  The  Roman  church  has 
never  erred,  nor  ever,  by  the  witness  of  scripture,  shall 
err,  to  all  eternity.  The  pope  may  absolve  subjects 
from  their  allegiance.  Lei  it  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
church  never  changes;  its  decrees  and  hulls  once  promul 
gated  are  always  in  force,  and  apph  equally  to  all  (  In  is 
tians,  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics,  and  we  musl  re 
member  thai  the  Roman  hierarch)  has  never  faltered  in 
the  use  of  its  powers  to  enforce  its  will.  [1  ol<  object  is 
dominion,    When   it  deems  it  expedient  it  suspends  its 


208  Commentaries  t»i  Hebrew 

decrees.  Whenever  it  has  had  the  power,  it  has  used  it  to 
depose  and  excommunicate  emperors  and  kings  and  drive 
their  people  into  rebellion  against  the  civil  authorities. 
Pope  Gregory  VII  spent  his  official  life  in  attempting  to 
overthrow  the  civil  governments  of  Europe.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  driving  the  people  of  Germany  into  rebellion 
against  Henry  IV,  and  he  died  in  exile  righting  civil  so- 
ciety. We  must  remember  that  the  Jesuitical  Society  is  the 
arm  of  the  papacy ;  that  it  possesses  great  learning,  policy, 
and  address,  and  is  full  of  craft  and  deceit;  that  in  coun- 
tries where  it  has  been  established,  it  has  secured,  by  art 
and  diplomacy,  vast  tracts  of  land  which  it  has  used  to 
foster  and  fortify  its  position.  Mexico,  the  Central  and 
South  American  states,  and  most  of  the  states  of  Europe, 
for  self-protection,  found  it  necessary  to  banish  this  peo- 
ple from  their  countries  and  confiscate  their  property. 
After  being  driven  from  other  lands,  the  Society  of  Jesus 
planted  itself  in  the  United  States,  where  in  conjunction 
with  the  Roman  priesthood,  it  is  scheming  to  establish 
Romanism  on  the  ruins  of  American  civil  institutions. 
While  this  is  going  on  under  orders  from  the  banks  of  the 
Tiber,  the  great  body  of  American  Protestant  clergymen 
are  demanding  that  their  God  be  put  into  the  Federal 
Constitution.  Not  content  with  this,  they  are  making  the 
air  resound  with  their  babbling  clamors  that  their  nefa- 
rious Sunday  blue  laws  be  adopted  by  the  State  and  Fed- 
eral governments,  and  thereby  deprive  the  people,  for  at 
least  one  day  of  the  week,  of  their  natural  rights.  This 
same  doleful  howl  is  also  going  up  from  the  pulpits  of 
England.  We  ask.  in  all  seriousness,  if  the  time  has  not 
come  for  free  action,  as  well  as  free  thought,  if  the  Amer- 
ican people  are  to  retain  the  liberties  vouchsafed  to  them 
by  the  sword  of  Washington  and  the  pen  of  Jefferson, 


And  Christian  Mythology.  209 

And  here  the  question  comes  back  once  more,  this  time 
from  the  graves  of  over  30,000,000  of  innocent  men, 
women,  and  children,  surrounded  by  burning  fagots  or 
tortured  with  every  instrument  that  Christian  ingenuity 
and  zeal  could  devise,  whether  the  world  would  not  have 
been  better  off  if  the  church  had  never  existed. 

Having  disposed  of  this  humane  branch  of  the  case, 
and  while  waiting  the  verdict  of  the  country,  let  us  look 
into  some  of  the  wise  acts  of  the  church  and  its  priests. 

Trial  and  Punishment  of  Quad,  upeds  and  Insects  by 
the  Church. 

The  mythologian,  having  exhausted  his  powers  in  the 
punishment  of  mankind,  turns  with  delight  to  a  new  field 
of  action,  where  without  let  or  hindrance  he  can  hurl  his 
ecclesiastical  shafts  at  the  Inner  order  of  the  animal 
world.  Unlike  the  humanity  of  the  poor  Hindu,  who  is 
taught  by  his  religion  to  extend  kindness  to  the  beast, 
the  reptile,  and  even  the  insect,  the  teacher  of  Christianity 
0  reason  why,  if  man  is  punished,  the  quadruped 
and  insect  should  nol  be. 

As  this  new  held  opened  a  wide  range  for  the  display  of 
the  intellectual  powers  of  the  priest,  he  established  his 
ecclesiastical  courl  for  the  trial,  condemnation,  and  pun- 
ishment of  bulls,  pigs,  reptiles,  and  insects. 

Incredible  a-  ii  maj  appear  to  the  people  in  this  en- 
lightened age,  it  is  n'-\  ertheles  3  hi  t<  >rii  ally  true,  thai  fr<  >m 
the  1 2th  to  the  [6th  century,  the  lower  animals  and  even 
tried  by  the  eci  lesiastical  tribunals;  s<  >me 
condemned  and  executed,  while  others  were  excom- 
municated. 

In  1410  the  Bishop  of  Laon  (France),  after  a  regular 
trial,  pronounced  an  injunction  againsl  caterpillars  and 


210  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

field  mice.  Full  details  exist  of  the  trial  of  a  hog  in  1494, 
wherein  it  is  set  forth  that  the  hog  was  duly  sentenced, 
and  strangled  on  a  gibbet.  In  1497  a  sow  was  tried,  con- 
demned, and  beaten  to  death  for  having  eaten  off  a  child's 
chin  in  the  village  of  Chroroune;  in  1386  Bishop  Folais 
condemned  a  sow  to  be  mutilated  and  thereafter  hung. 
Numerous  cases  of  the  trial  of  bulls  are  reported. 

In  1587  proceedings  were  instituted  against  beetles  for 
ravages  in  the  vineyards  of  St.  Julian;  the  beetles  having 
disappeared,  the  proceedings  were  dismissed;  having  re- 
appeared forty  years  thereafter,  proceedings  were  revived. 

In  the  "History  of  the  Swiss  Reformation,"  by  De 
Ruchat,  many  such  trials  appear,  wherein  full  details  of 
the  proceedings  are  given,  too  silly  and  ridiculous  to  merit 
contempt.  In  one  case  the  trial  was  of  cockroaches  at. 
Lansome;  after  trial  the  insects  were  condemned  in  the 
name  of  the  holy  trinity  and  the  blessed  Virgin. 

The  same  author  narrates  a  case  wherein  a  miraculous 
image  was  a  witness  against  a  pig. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  a  few  years  ago  the  great 
state  of  Minnesota  was  overrun  with  grasshoppers;  they 
seemed  to  come  up  out  of  the  very  bowels  of  the  earth, 
and  were  so  numerous  as  to  threaten  the  destruction  of 
every  green  thing  in  the  land.  The  people  sought  every 
means  to  get  rid  of  them,  to  no  avail.  The  opportune 
moment  had  arrived  when  the  specially  ordained  agents 
of  Jehovah  were  to  take  a  hand  in  the  fray ;  notices  were 
sent  to  the  clergymen  everywhere,  a  day  was  fixed  for  the 
general  onslaught,  by  prayers  and  anathemas;  the  day 
dawned,  the  trial  commenced,  when  over  two  thousand 
mythologians  hurled  from  their  rostrums  the  sacred  jave- 
lin until,  as  we  may  imagine,  not  a  hopper  was  left  to  tell 
the  tale  of  that  direful  conflict.     Whether  the  sun  stood 


And  Christian  Mythology.  211 

still  to  allow  these  Joshuas  to  finish  their  work,  we  are  not 
advised,  but  we  may  imagine  that  the  sun  went  down  on 
a  scene  of  desolation. 

After  such  evidence,  who  will  doubt  the  potency  of 
prayer  in  the  extermination  of  pestilential  hoppers,  licen- 
tious bugs  and  unbelievers? 

Whatever  may  be  said  as  to  the  fact  that  these  hoppers 
did  not  have  their  day  in  court,  that  they  were  not  as- 
signed counsel  by  this  clerical  tribunal,  that  they  did  not 
have  an  opportunity  to  face  their  accusers  or  to  cross- 
examine  witnesses,  it  will  not  be  denied  that  these  hoppers 
were  tried  by  their  peers. 

Since  writing  the  foregoing,  we  are  advised  by  tele- 
graph that  the  devout  believers  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Etna 
are  praying  to  stop  the  flow  of  lava,  which  in  obedience  to 
the  law  of  gravitation  is  running  down  the  mountain. 

In  closing  this  branch  of  the  subject  it  may  truthfully 
be  said  that  for  what  liberty  we  now  possess,  we  are 
largely  indebted  to  the  divisions  and  dissensions  in  the 
church,  and  the  indifference  manifested  by  so  many  of  its 
lay  members,  who  give  no  thought,  heed,  or  concern  to 
the  making  of  proselytes.  They  have  nothing  to  gain, 
hence  their  indifference.  Nbl  so  with  the  priesl  or  myth 
ologian,  whose  influence,  authority,  power,  and  salary  de 
pend  on  the  number  of  votaries  he  can  draw  into  his  web. 

It   is  he  who,  from   the  'lawn  of  the  persecutions  to  tin 

nt  time,  directed  and  carried  on  all  the  inhuman  and 
barbarous  persecutions  that  have  so  signally  marked  the 
progress  of  the  church  and  the  spiril  of  Christianity,  at 
the  expense  of  liberty,  knowledge,  and  humanity. 

The  ordinary  mythologian  lives  to  day  in  the  bygi 
ages;  progress  with  him  is  an  impossibility;  his  world  of 

thought  is  confined  to  his  Bible  and  its  teachings.     Stand 


212  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

ing  on  this  vast  pedestal  of  clerical  arrogance,  he  unfolds 
his  hymn-book  and  sings  psalms  to  the  credulous  multi- 
tude. With  his  prayers  he  can  change  the  laws  of  the 
universe,  bring  down  the  wrath  of  heaven,  destroy  grass- 
hoppers and  other  pestilential  insects,  and  cause  copious 
showers  to  descend  on  the  parched-up  earth.  He  listens 
to  the  talk  between  Eve  and  the  serpent  as  to  the  pro- 
priety of  eating  an  apple.  He  sees  the  Almighty  walking 
in  the  shade,  and  hears  him  call  to  Adam.  He  is  present 
at  the  building  of  the  ark.  After  the  storm  has  subsided, 
he  helps  Noah  out  of  the  ship,  builds  the  sacrificial  fire, 
and  smells  a  sweet  savor.  He  knows  that  as  the  child 
bloweth  his  soap  bubble  to  float  on  the  soft  air,  so  the 
great  "I  am,"  by  a  single  breath,  brought  forth  from  the 
fathomless  realms  of  nothingness  our  earth,  with  its  at- 
tendant satellites,  the  sun  to  give  light  to  man  by  day,  and 
the  moon  and  stars  to  illuminate  his  course  by  night.  He 
knows  that  all  these  things  were  created  in  a  single  day 
He  remembers  the  fall  of  Adam,  and  knows  that  Moses 
wrote  the  Pentateuch,  and  that  it  was  written  by  the  com- 
mand of  the  Almighty  on  Mount  Sinai.  He  was  present 
when  the  children  of  Israel  came  out  of  Egypt,  and  knows 
that  Pharaoh  and  his  army  were  lost  in  the  Red  Sea. 

All  of  these  things,  and  several  others,  this  primate 
knows,  because  his  Bible  tells  him  so, and  this  book, being 
the  work  of  inspiration,  is  necessarily  true,  and  all  science 
in  conflict  with  its  teachings  is  to  him  false. 

There  is  another  class,  the  explanatory  homo,  who,  in 
attempting  to  retain  his  power  and  influence  over  the 
multitude,  is  trying  to  explain  away  and  adjust  the  con- 
flicts between  his  Bible  and  science.  Poor  fellow,  he  de- 
serves our  sympathy,  for  his  task  is  a  hard  one. 

Lastly,  there  is  a  third  class,  which  seeing  no  escape 


And  Christian  Mythology.  213 

from  the  deadly  conflict  between  science  and  religion,  is 
throwing  off  its  clerical  robes,  and  its  members  one  by 
one  are  taking  their  places  in  the  field  of  science.  Thus  it 
will  be  seen  that  even  the  mythologian  has  not  escaped 
the  laws  of  nature.  He  first  made  his  appearance  in  the 
post-tertiary  period  as  a  simple  protoplastic  Pator,  from 
which  evolved  the  conjuror,  the  soothsayer,  the  diviner, 
the  prophet,  the  rabbi,  the  priest,  and  the  theologian ;  at 
all  times,  and  in  each  stage,  a  mediator  between  Gods  and 
men.  Having  thus  fulfilled  the  laws  of  evolution,  and 
reached  an  age  of  science  in  which  no  oracle  can  live,  he 
is  ready  to  deposit  his  bones  with  those  of  other  extinct 
mammals. 

In  his  "Service  of  Man,"  J.  C.  Morison,  speaking  from 
an  English  standpoint,  very  properly  says:  "The  general 
tendency  of  opinion  shows  that  in  the  near  future  Chris- 
tianity must  disappear  from  among  the  more  advanced 
populations  of  the  globe,  for  it  is  no  longer  tenable  by 
educated  people." 

Mythology  or  Hindustan. 

Brahma,  whose  name  is  used  in  the  masculine,  femi- 
nine, and  neuter,  stands  at  the  head  of  the  <  i<>ds  <>f  the 
Hindu  pantheon— the  soul  of  the  universe.  He  is  called 
in  Sanscrit  Trimurti,  ami  in  his  tine-  genders,  or  ph 
he  is  Brahma,  Vishnu,  and  Siva.  Resolved  bark  into  a 
unit,  lik<  n  trinity,  tin-  three  become  one,  and 

that  one  is  Brahma  or  Trimurti. 

Brahms  the  principles  of  creation,  preserva- 

tion, and  destruction. 

Vishnu  is  sometimes  called  ili<-  creator,  and  as  such  is 

represented  by  the  sun  in  its  onward  course  through  the 

ens,  when  he  takes  on  the  character  <>f  the  Egyptian 


211  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

trinity  at  dawn,  meridian,  and  setting.  Vishnu,  like  Je- 
hovah, is  described  as  allowing  a  portion  of  himself,  in  the 
form  of  a  man,  begotten  by  Brahma  and  incarnate,  to  de- 
scend to  earth  for  the  salvation  of  mankind. 

The  Hindu  code  of  morals,  or  religious  teaching, 
closely  resembles  the  teachings  of  Buddha  and  Confu- 
cius. 

The  Hindus  have  a  legend  that,  Vishnu  having  fallen 
asleep,  the  demon  Hayagaiva  stole  the  Vedas;  Vishnu 
assumes  the  form  of  a  fish,  reveals  to  Menu  a  coming  flood 
to  destroy  the  world,  tells  Menu  that  there  will  be  sent  to 
him  a  ship,  and  orders  that  he  take  animals  and  seeds  into 
the  ship.  The  deluge  came  as  foretold  and  destroyed  all 
life  on  the  earth,  and  when  the  flood  subsided,  Vishnu 
taught  Menu  all  that  was  pure  and  good. 

Mythology  of  Ancient  Persia. 

Zoroaster,  or  Zarathustra,  the  founder  or  reformer  of 
Persian  mythology,  is  supposed  to  have  been  an  Iranian, 
born  in  Bactria.  Like  Christ  and  Mohammed,  he  left  no 
writings;  his  teachings  were  reduced  to  writing  some  time 
after  his  death,  by  his  disciples  at  different  times;  amended 
and  modified  at  a  much  later  date.  The  date  of  his  birth 
is  unknown ;  there  is  a  wide  divergence  of  opinion  on  this 
point,  but  from  the  best  authority  we  have,  the  time  of  his 
birth  was  not  later  than  1800  B.  C.  His  teachings,  or 
supposed  teachings,  are  contained  in  the  Zend-Avesta,  or 
Avesta. 

Zoroaster  claimed,  or  it  is  claimed  for  him,  as  for  all 
other  founders  of  religions,  that  these  sacred  writings 
came  directly  from  the  lips  of  Ahura  Mazda  (Ormuzd). 
This  divinity  told  Zoroaster  that  he  once  conferred  all 
power  on  Yima,  who  ruled  the  earth  for  a  thousand  years, 


And  Christian  Mythology.  215 

during  which  time  there  was  no  death,  all  was  perfect 
happiness;  that  Yima  then  sinned,  fell  from  grace,  and  was 
cast  out  into  the  world  of  darkness,  where  he,  in  the  form 
of  a  serpent,  wandered  over  the  earth,  enticing  men  away 
from  Ahura  Mazda. 

Zoroaster,  like  Christ,  was  taken  up  into  a  mountain  b> 
Yima,  the  evil  one,  and  offered  the  whole  earth  if  he  would 
turn  from  his  religion. 

Dr.  Haug,  Windischmann,  Spiegel,  et  al,  say  that  the 
belief  in  immortality  was  one  of  the  principal  dogmas  oi 
Zoroaster,  believed  by  many  to  have  been  borrowed  from 
Persia  by  the  Christians.  These  authors  further  say  that 
the  Jewish  and  Christian  notions  of  a  Messiah  were  bor- 
rowed from  Mosiosh,  who  occupied  a  similar  position  in 
the  mythology  of  Zoroaster.  He,  like  Christ,  was  be- 
gotten by  a  God,  and  his  last  office  was  to  awake  the  dead 
and  bring  them  to  judgment. 

Chinese  Philosophy  and   Transmigration. 

Buddha,  the  Chinese  philosopher,  was  born  in  Hindu- 
stan, the  time  of  his  birth  is  unknown.  Writers  have 
speculated  on  the  time,  varying  from  600  to  2000  years 
B.  C.  When  we  know  that  his  teachings  had  attained  a 
foothold  in  India  and  I  hina  as  early  as  550  I'..  C,  tin-  time 
of  his  birth  could  not  have  been  later  than  about  IOOO 
B.C. 

In  thus  giving  [ooo  years  B.  C.  as  the  date  of  the  I  .nth 
of  Buddha,  I  am  not  unmindful  <>f  the  fact  thai  probabl) 
a  majority  of  modern  writers  li\  thai  event  at  from  five  to 
six  hundred  years  I'..  C,  bu1  they  give  no  satisfactory 
reasons  therefor,  while  Penny,  in  Ins  encyclopaedia,  fixes 
a  thousand  years,  and  says  that  numerous  recent  <  Ihinese 

and  Japanese  writers  concur  "ii  from  twelve  to  ten  hun- 


■jlC)  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

dred  years,  and  that  the  writers  who  give  earlier  dates 
confound  some  one  of  the  early  sages  with  Buddha,  and 
that  those  who  give  the  latest  dates  confound  some  one  of 
the  later  Buddhas  with  the  founder  of  the  sect. 

It  is  said  that  he  (Buddha)  was  a  prince  by  the  name  of 
Siddhartha ;  his  mother  died  in  his  infancy ;  he  was  reared 
by  his  aunt,  Gautama,  hence  he  is  sometimes  called 
Gautama,  and  at  others  Buddha,  signifying  wisdom  and 
goodness. 

Chinese  tradition  says  he  was  born  of  a  virgin  named 
Maya,  amid  great  miracles;  was  in  later  life  tempted  by 
an  evil  spirit,  called  Mara,  which  he  defied.  He  com- 
menced his  teachings  in  his  native  country,  where  he  en- 
countered the  enmity  of  the  Brahmans,  in  consequence  of 
which  he  fled  into  northwestern  India,  where  he  success- 
fully propagated  his  philosophy  for  about  forty  years, 
when  he  died.     He  left  no  writings. 

After  his  death  his  principal  followers  met  in  council, 
and  proceeded  to  reduce  his  teachings  to  writing. 

Buddhism  rests  on  human  existence,  and  the  philos- 
ophy which  prevailed  among  the  Brahmans. 

The  doctrine  of  transmigration,  in  all  its  essential  feat- 
ures similar  to  that  which  prevailed  in  Egypt  and  India, 
was  in  all  probability  borrowed  some  time  after  the  death 
of  Buddha,  since  which  time  the  Chinaman  has  been 
taught  that  after  death  he  is  to  pass  through  some  or  all 
of  the  lower  animals,  according  to  his  fitness;  when  he  is 
to  become  a  perfect  being. 

Buddha  claimed,  or  his  followers  claimed  for  him,  that 
he  had  passed  through  all  these  stages  of  existence,  and 
finally  attained  a  state  of  perfection. 

The  Chinaman  is  now  taught  that  this  state  of  things 


And   Christ  ion  Mythology.  217 

is  brought  about  by,  and  is  the  result  of,  the  inherent 
force  of  matter  under  general  laws. 

Contrary  to  general  belief.  Buddhism  recognizes  no 
supreme  being;  hence  all  Buddhist  nations  and  peoples, 
says  an  eminent  writer,  are  essentially  atheists.  In  this 
respect  Buddhism  differs  from  Brahmanism,  which  as- 
serts an  universal  spirit  in  nature. 

The  Buddhist  philosophy  teaches  and  enjoins  general 
love  of  all  mankind  and  even  the  lower  order  of  animals; 
to  love  our  enemies,  to  abstain  from  even  defensive  war- 
fare; avoid  all  vice,  inculcate  virtue;  be  obedient  to  par- 
ents, provide  food,  shelter,  and  comfort  for  man  and 
animals,  respect  all  religions,  and  persecute  no  dissenters. 
Honor  your  own  faith,  and  do  not  slander  that  of  others, 
is  a  Buddhist  maxim. 

Universal  charity  and  toleration  of  all  other  beliefs,  says 
an  historian,  is  one  of  the  Buddhist  cardinal  virtues,  and 
he  says  the  persecution  of  Christians  in  China  does  not 
grow  out  of  religion,  but  is  the  result  of  the  meddlesome 
character  of  the  missionaries. 

However  much  the  Christians  took  from  the  pagan 
nations,  it  is  quite  certain  thai  they  did  nol  borrow  from 
the  '  "hii  ithers,  either  charity  or  toleration. 

Asoka,  king  of  Magadha,  for  a  time  persecuted  the  fai- 
rs <if  Buddha,  but  thereafter,  like  Paul,  he  by  a  mir- 
became  converted,  and  like  Constantine,  made  the 
new  teachings  national. 

Buddhism  is  taughl  in  China,  Japan,  Ceylon,  Siam, 
Burmah,  Nepal,  and  Tibet,  to  i  v>.-  ■•  if  people. 

After  the  death  of  Gautama  Buddha,  his  disciples, 
aboul  250  B.  »"..  reduced  to  writing  the  teachings  of  their 
■  r.  thereby  forming  a  canon  of  sacred  writings. 

Some  time  after  this,  tradition, contrary  to  the  belief  and 


218  Commentaries  on   Hebrew 

teachings  of  Buddha,  assigned  him  a  place  at  the  head  of 
immortal  spirits,  and  threw  around  his  birth  and  life  a  net- 
work of  legends,  wherein  it  is  said  that  he  was  conceived 
of  a  virgin  b}  the  soul  of  the  universe;  that  while  the  vir- 
gin was  on  her  way  to  visit  some  friends,  she  gave  birth  to 
Buddha  beneath  the  shade  of  a  Bo-tree  (holy  tree),  over 
which  spirits  hovered  to  protect  him;  that  sages  from  afar 
off  came  and  worshiped  him ;  and  that  when  a  small  boy 
he  surpassed  his  teachers  in  knowledge.  From  the  age 
of  nineteen  until  twenty-nine  tradition  loses  sight  of  him. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-nine  Buddha  goes  into  the  wilder- 
ness for  study  and  meditation,  where  he  is  tempted  by  an 
evil  spirit  called  Mara,  who  offers  him  the  kingdoms  of 
the  four  quarters  of  the  earth  to  forego  his  philosophical 
teachings;  he  spurns  the  offer,  and  seeks  his  disciples  in 
the  mountains,  where  they  renew  their  devotion  to  their 
old  teacher.  He  instructs  them  to  separate,  go  to  the 
four  quarters  of  the  earth  and  preach  his  gospel  of  truth, 
virtue,  and  purity,  until  all  ends  in  Nirvana  (eternal 
death),  the  home  of  peace  beyond  the  ocean  of  existence, 
to  the  shore  of  salvation,  where  death  ends  all  suffering 
and  all  existence. 

Buddha  goes  to  Sena,  in  the  desert,  to  commune  with 
the  hermit  philosophers,  who  warn  him  of  approaching 
enemies. 

In  answer  to  questions  of  these  hermits,  Buddha  says: 
"If  they  revile  me,  I  will  make  no  reply;  if  they  strike  me, 
I  will  not  resent  the  injury;  and  if  they  kill  me,  death  is  no 
evil,  but  eternal  rest." 

His  disciples,  about  250  B.  C,  reduced  to  writing  his 
sayings,  among  which  was :  "When  I  have  passed  away, 
do  not  think  that  Buddha  has  left  you,  for  he  is  still  in 
your  midst ;  revere  my  memory,  love  one  another,  remem- 


And  Christ  Sun  Mythology.  219 

ber  that  which  causes  life  causes  death  and  decay,  let  your 
minds  be  filled  with  truth,  and  do  good  to  all  mankind." 

The  story  put  into  the  mouth  of  Christ  by  the  authors 
of  the  gospels  is  quite  a  good  copy  of  the  teachings  of 
Buddha,  except  that  Buddha  recognized  no  God  or 
future  existence. 

Buddha  possessed  all  the  learning  of  his  day,  and  his 
followers  were  of  the  highest  order  of  intelligence. 

Gautama  Buddha  taught  the  plurality  of  worlds,  that 
nothing  is  eternal,  that  one  life  passes  and  another  takes 
its  place,  that  the  higher  forms  evolve  from  the  lower,  and 
that  all  things  are  the  result  of  natural  law. 

One  of  this  great  philosopher's  cardinal  doctrines  was 
to  be  kind  and  tender,  not  only  to  all  mankind,  but  to 
beasts  and  even  insects,  to  injure  no  living  thing,  and  re- 
vile no  religious  teachings. 

While  the  atheists  of  China  were  following  the  teach- 
ings of  this  great  humanitarian,  extending  the  utmost 
toleration  to  all  counter-opinions,  nursing  and  feeding 
sick  animals,  going  out  of  their  way  to  avoid  treading  on 
insects,  and  even  filtering  the  water  they  drank,  lest  they 
should  swallow  and  thereby  destroy  the  lives  of  animal- 
cules, the  Christian  priests  were  torturing  and  murdering 
millions  of  innocent  men.  women,  and  children. 

The  priests  of  Rome  were  too  busy  in  forging  the 
biography  of  their  mythical  Christ,  and  copying  therein 

the  legends  concerning    Buddha,  to  even  think  of  ob 
serving  any  of  his  humanitarian  teachings. 

Kong-fu-tse,  or  Confucius,  the  Chine  vas  born 

June  19,  551  B.  C,  al  Shang  Ping,  in  the  little  kingdom 

of  Loo.       His   real    name     was     Kong,    DUl     his    disciples 

added  fn-tse,  signifying  teacher.     He  taughl  pure  phi 
loscphy,  morals,  rhetoric,  and  politics,  rejecting  all  super 


220  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

natural  things  and  religions  as  unworthy  of  considera- 
tion. Having  been  asked  whether  any  one  sentence  could 
express  the  conduct  most  fitting  for  one's  whole  life,  he 
replied:  "Do  not  unto  others  what  you  would  not  have 
them  do  to  you."  After  traveling  over  a  large  part  of 
the  empire  teaching  his  philosophy,  he  died  at  seventy 
years  of  age. 

After  his  death  temples  were  erected  to  his  memory  in 
nearly  all  of  the  cities.  He  recognized  no  supreme 
power  outside  of  nature  and  nature's  laws  in  the  universe; 
doubted  the  existence  of  mind  in  matter;  looked  on  the 
universe  as  existing  from  eternity,  and  self-sustaining. 

His  five  cardinal  virtues  were  universal  charity,  impar- 
tial justice,  conformity  to  established  rules,  rectitude  in 
heart  and  mind,  and  pure  sincerity.  He,  as  a  materialist, 
appealed  to  practical  men,  and  claimed  no  knowledge  as 
to  future  existence.  His  disciples,  unlike  those  of  found- 
ers of  religions,  were  of  the  highest  and  most  intellectual 
order;  in  fact,  says  a  biographer,  the  entire  literary  class 
were  his  followers. 

Notwithstanding  the  non-recognition  of  a  supreme  in- 
telligence, the  populace  in  China,  as  elsewhere,  must  have 
something  to  venerate,  and  so  there  grew  up  in  later 
years  a  system  of  worship  of  heroes  and  demigods,  and 
along  with  this  system,  naturally  grew  up  a  priesthood, 
which,  like  that  class  everywhere,  claimed  to  be  able  to 
commune  with  the  spirits  of  departed  heroes  and  friends. 
Disagreements  and  dissensions  having  sprung  up,  the 
fabric  broke  up  into  three  parts,  the  Buddhists,  Con- 
fucians, and  Taoists,  all  of  whom  sacrificed  to  the  sun, 
moon,  mountains,  and  rivers,  and  offered  up  prayers  to 
the  departed  souls  of  great  men,  Joss  being  worshiped 
as  a  great  general.     Their  prayers,  like  those  of  some 


And  Christian  Mythology.  221 

Christian  sects,  have  been  reduced  to  fixed  forms,  con- 
sisting of  such  phrases  as  "I  take  refuge  with  Buddha"; 
"I  take  refuge  with  Confucius." 

In  the  course  of  time  a  device,  or  machine,  was  invented 
in  the  form  of  a  hollow  cylinder,  on  different  parts  of 
which  the  prayer  was  written;  the  cylinder  was  turned  by 
a  crank  bringing  to  view  the  prayer.  Some  of  these 
machines  were  ponderous,  and  were  set  in  the  roadway 
for  passers-by,  who  by  a  kick  of  the  foot  turned  up  the 
prayer.  Others  were  small,  and  were  carried  around  by 
the  devotee. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  this  device,  it  is  certainly 
just  as  potent  and  effectual  as,  and  much  more  convenient 
than,  the  Christian  system. 

Buddhism  was  introduced  into  Japan  552  A.  C,  where 
it  underwent  some  modification  by  a  mixture  with  the 
e  great  sun  <  roddess. 

There,  as  in  China,  the  intelligent  class  are  atheists,  fol- 
lowing Buddha  and  Confucius. 

Mythology  of  Egypt. 

Having  her  considered  tin   Gods  of  Egypt,  we 

will  I  I.  <-nly  of  it>  system  of  morals  and  religion. 

An    !  I  that   tin-,  people  attained   an 

ordinary  degree  "i  perfection.     They  believed  in  a 

futun  thai  at  death  the  good  and  bad  deeds 

3 :  T<  ith  stood  b 
count.     If  the  good  deeds  prepoi  the  soul  en 

the  unhappy 

a   round  of  trai  h   the 

I  tnsit,  and 

if  animals  in  which  the  spiril  lived. 

tided  on  it-  depravity  at  death.     If  after  a  Ion 


222  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

journ  there  were  found  incurable  souls,  complete  anni- 
hilation took  place.  The  Egyptian  code,  like  that  of 
India,  Persia,  and  China,  but  unlike  that  of  the  Chris- 
tians, required  good  works,  instead  of  mere  faith  and  be- 
lief. Egyptian  religion  required  all  to  be  industrious,  to 
feed  the  hungry,  relieve  the  oppressed,  do  no  violence, 
hold  no  malice,  be  just  and  true,  offer  no  offense,  oppress 
no  widow,  imprison  no  one,  allow  no  one  to  go  hungry, 
and  grant  no  favors  to  the  rich  over  the  poor. 

Mythology  of  Greece. 

The  fundamental  ideas  of  the  religion  of  Greece  were 
brought  from  the  northwest  of  India,  which  is  believed  to 
have  been  the  cradle  of  the  Hellenic  stock.  In  later  years 
Egypt  and  Phoenicia  brought  in  their  Gods,  and  to  some 
extent  modified  the  religion.  The  adding  of  new  divini- 
ties created  no  conflict;  all  were  blended  into  one  har- 
monious system.  Justice  toward  all  men  lay  at  the 
foundation  of  their  religion.  They  entertained  a  vague 
idea  of  a  future  existence,  which  was  more  strongly 
marked  when  applied  to  great  men  and  heroes.  Extra- 
ordinary crimes  were  punished  in  Hades,  or  the  more  ter- 
rible Tartarus.  They  had  a  council  of  twelve  divinities, 
at  the  head  of  which  stood  Zeus,  Poseidon,  and  Apollo. 
Numerous  other  and  lesser  Gods  filled  up  the  Pantheon, 
many  of  whom  were  mortal  heroes,  sprung  from  the  em- 
brace of  Gods  and  the  beautiful  daughters  of  men.  The 
religion  on  the  whole  was  bright  and  joyous,  and  among 
the  mildest  and  most  tolerant  of  the  ancient  creeds.  The 
office  of  the  priest  was  limited  to  the  care  of  the  temples 
and  sacred  property,  the  recitation  of  formulas,  and  the 
expounding  of  the  divine  will,  expressed  in  oracles. 

They  had  a  trinity,  says  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson,  con- 


And  Christian  Mythology.  223 

sisting  of  Osiris,  the  masculine  principle,  Isis,  the  femi- 
nine, and  Orus,  the  offspring. 

Comparison  of  the  Different  Religions. 

There  is  a  close  resemblance  in  all  the  systems,  show- 
ing a  continuous  unbroken  line  of  descent  from  the  earli- 
est to  the  latest. 

In  all  except  Judaism  there  are  numerous  divinities, 
the  Christians  having  the  least  number;  in  all  there  is  a 
clearly  defined  head,  or  supreme  ruler,  who  not  only  rules 
over  men,  but  over  all  lesser  Gods.  They  all  have  a 
dual  principle,  good  and  evil;  the  good  is  controlled  by 
celestial  beings,  and  the  evil  is  with  them  all  represented 
by  a  serpent.  The  strangest  part  of  it  is,  that  they  all 
have  a  trinity;  and  that  trinity,  with  all  of  them,  is  capa- 
ble of  uniting  itself  into  one  and  dissolving  itself  back 
into  three  beings  at  will;  and  in  most  of  them  one  of  the 
personages  of  the  triad  has  been  begotten  of  a  beautiful 
woman  by  one  of  the  Gods. 

In  this  mythological  category  we  have  not  included  the 
Chinese,  for,  strictly  speaking,  theirs  is  not  a  religion,  un- 
less we  can  call  the  worship  of  departed  ancestors  by  the 
more  ignorant,  a  religion. 

The  systems  taught  by  Buddha  and  Confucius  were 
pure  philosophy,  for  nowhere  is  there  to  be  i<  »und  in  their 
teachings  any  word  signifying  a  supreme  being. 

As  for  the  morals  of  the  various  systems,  they  speal  foi 
themselves.  All  except  Christianity  require  good 
works,  and  promise  salvation  on  no  other  terms;  while 
Christianity  alone  requires  nothing  but  naked  faith,  a 
belief  in  its  Savior,  and  probably  a  slighl  sprinkling  of 
cold  water. 

While  there  are  other  appendages  attached  to  it,  they 


22-1  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

are  not  prerequisites,  nor  in  any  way  essential  to  salva- 
tion. A  man  can,  under  the  Christian  scheme,  remain  a 
hardened  criminal  all  his  life,  and  if  he  believes  at  the  last 
moment,  he  can  get  from  his  priest  a  clean  bill  of  morals 
on  payment  of  fees,  and  pass  without  let  or  hindrance  to 
the  realms  of  paradise. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Bauer  deemed  it  the  duty  of  the 
civil  government  to  suppress  this  criminal,  fraudulent 
thing,  called  Christianity.  In  this  opinion  all  good  men 
should  concur,  and  ask  that  the  millions  of  dollars  ex- 
pended in  support  of  the  church  and  its  mountebanks,  be 
turned  over  to  the  poor. 

We  have  made  an  estimate  from  the  best  data  we  could 
obtain,  from  which  we  find  the  result  to  be,  that  if  the 
money  annually  wasted  in  sustaining  useless  religions 
were  turned  into  proper  channels  it  would  feed  and  clothe 
all  the  poor  of  the  world. 

Conflict  Between  Science  and  Religion. 

There  is  no  room  to  question  the  fact  that  science  and 
religion  are,  as  they  ever  have  been,  in  deadly  conflict. 

Astronomy  has  filled  endless  space  with  worlds  and 
systems  of  worlds  that  have  existed  from  eternity.  Re- 
ligion has  created  but  a  single  world,  our  little  earth,  and 
lighted  it,  for  the  sole  benefit  of  man,  with  a  little  sun  and 
moon,  and  a  few  little  stars,  all  made  in  a  single  day,  and 
created  out  of  nothing. 

Science  reveals  our  earth  as  a  globe  revolving  on  its 
axis  and  around  the  sun. 

Religion  makes  the  earth  a  flat  surface,  and  carries  the 
sun  around  it.  Religious  man,  in  his  ignorance,  stops 
the  sun  to  fight  his  battles,  while  science  tolerates  no 
quietude  in  the  universe. 


Ami  Christian   Mythology.  '225 

Religion  created  the  first  man  a  perfect  being;  science 
found  him  a  savage.  Religion  put  him  in  a  paradise; 
science  found  him  in  a  wilderness.  Religion  degraded 
him  as  time  passed  on,  while  science  advances  him  in  the 
scale  of  humanity  and  reason. 

Religion  created  this  earth  about  6,000  years  ago,  and 
peopled  it  in  the  short  space  of  six  days;  science  goes 
back  countless  millions  of  years  to  find  its  beginning,  and 
then  carries  it  through  other  millions  of  years  before  man 
made  his  appearance  on  it.  Religion  finds  a  powerful 
being,  in  the  image  of  a  man,  residing  in  the  heavens,  who 
out  of  nothing  made  the  universe!  Science  finds  force 
or  gravitation  to  be  a  property  of  matter,  and  a  sufficient 
cause  for  the  existence  and  maintenance  of  the  universe. 
Science  teaches  that  planets  are  born,  live  to  old  age.  and 
die;  that  they  begin  as  tenuous  gas,  become  fluid,  solidify, 
live  in  the  vegetable  and  animal  epochs,  and  finally,  like 
our  moon,  revolve  as  dead  bodies;  that  our  sun  and  other 
suns  are  still  in  their  infancy,  in  time  to  become  solid 
bodies  tit  for  habitation. 

What  Is  Life? 

What  is  life?  is  a  question  asked  by  some  of  the  ablesl 
naturalists;  and  they  further  ask,  whether  n  is  unchange 
able  and  indissoluble  matter  permeating  the  universe  and 
creating  the  forms  of  life,  or  whether  it  is  ordinal")  mal 
ter  of  aggregated  atoms,  returning  to  its  original  el< 
ments  when  its  work  is  done. 

Modern    scieni  I   -     I  ittei 

hypothesis;  under  whatever  guise  it  takes  refuge,  wh< 
fungus  or  oak,  worm  or  man,  the  living  protoplasm  not 
only  dies  and  is  resolved  into  its  mineral  O  is  bul 

it  is  always  dying  that  it  m,r   live;  protoplasm,  in  what 


226  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

ever  form,  is  the  germ  of  life;  all  forms  of  protoplasm 
contain  carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen,  and  nitrogen;  and 
science  has  failed,  with  the  microscope  or  otherwise,  to 
discover  the  slightest  difference  between  the  protoplasm 
of  the  animal  and  that  of  the  plant.  Man,  beast,  fowl, 
reptile,  fish,  mollusk,  worm,  and  polyp  are  composed  of 
clustered  units  'of  the  same  character  of  protoplasm,  with 
a  nucleus;  and  this  is  equally  true  of  plants. 

Traced  back  to  its  earliest  state,  the  plant  rises  as  does 
man  in  a  particle  of  nucleated  protoplasm,  which  is  the 
basis  of  all  life.  The  plant  raises  the  less  complex  sub- 
stances of  carbonic  acid,  water,  and  ammonia  to  living 
protoplasm,  while  the  animal  can  raise  only  complex  sub- 
stances of  dead  protoplasm  to  living  protoplasm.  Remove 
from  the  living  protoplasm  either  carbonic  acid,  water, 
or  ammonia,  and  life  ceases.  The  rays  of  the  sun  pro- 
duce the  same  disturbances  on  the  protoplasm  of  the 
plant  and  animal,  creating  nucleated  action,  resulting  in 
growth  in  both,  and  vital  action  in  the  animal.  The 
vegetable  receives  support  from  mineral  and  atmospheric 
substances,  while  the  animal  must  take  its  nourishment 
from  the  vegetable  and  other  animal  matter;  but  life  as  an 
abstract  quality  or  quantity  is  produced  by  the  combined 
action  of  light,  heat,  and  water.  Every  exertion,  mental 
or  physical,  of  the  animal  results  in  a  loss  of  vital  force,  to 
be  renewed  only  by  a  draft  on  the  source  of  vitality.  The 
decomposed  rocks  are  held  in  solution  and  acted  on  by 
light  and  heat,  which  create  disturbances  in  the  materials, 
causing  the  aggregation  of  homogeneous  molecules  to 
form  chemical  combinations.  A  single  molecule  is  first 
formed  into  a  cell,  to  which,  by  the  law  of  affinity,  others 
are  added,  forming  an  aggregate  of  cells,  and  in  the  end 
constituting  the  lowest  form  of  vegetable  life,  thereby  lay- 


And  Christian  Mythology.  227 

ing  the  foundation,  from  which  evolve,  hrst  the  lower,  and 
finally  the  higher  forms  of  animal  life. 

H.  C.  Bastian,  professor  of  anatomy  and  physiology  in 
the  London  University  (1880),  says:  "An  attentive  con- 
sideration of  mental  phenomena  of  living  beings  fails  to 
assure  us  of  the  existence  of  the  mind  as  a  self-existent 
entity.  It  is  quite  the  reverse.  Very  many  of  those  who 
are  the  most  entitled  to  form  a  judgment  upon  this  sub- 
ject regard  it  as  a  legitimate  inference,  from  existing 
knowledge,  that  conscious  states,  and,  indeed,  mental 
phenomena,  are  dependent  on  the  properties  and  molec- 
ular activities  of  nerve  tissues,  just  as  magnetic  phe- 
nomena are  dependent  on  the  properties  ami  molecular 
action  of  certain  kinds  or  states  of  iron.  .  .  .  Reflex 
action  consists  of  ingoing  fibers  continuous  in  a  nerve 
center  with  so-called  sensory  nerve  cells,  which  in  their 
turn  are  in  communication  with  some  group  or  groups  of 
motor  nerve  cells,  whence  issue  outgoing  fibers  for  the 
transmission  of  stimuli  to  muscles.  Such  groups  are  con 
tinually  increasing  in  number  and  structural  developmenl 
during  animal  progress.  We  shall  find  in  reflex  action 
support  for  the  doctrine  that  the  nerve  m  gener 

ally  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  organ  <>f  mind,  and  as  tin- 
nerve  system  continue  intelligence  would  be 
thus  subject  to  actual  growth." 

In  concluding  this  subject,  it  ma\  he  >  be 

no  doubt,  so  far  as  our  knowled  found* 

anatomy,  physiolotry,  chemistry,  and  the  other 
that  mind  is  thr  result  of  the  flex  and  reflex  action  of  the 
nervous  svst-  1  oming  in  conl 

external  objects  through  one  or  more  of  our  sensoi 

xing    mental    and    physical     phe- 
nomena      Rut  all  thi*  doe«  not  settle  the  vital  question  of 


228  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

life,  for  science  is  incapable  of  determining  the  full  scope 
of  the  source  of  mental  and  physical  activity.  And,  as  I 
understand  him,  this  is  just  where  Professor  Huxley 
leaves  the  matter. 

In  his  "Evolution  of  Life,"  Dr.  H.  W.  Mitchell  tells  us 
that  life  is  a  form  of  chemical  force  acting  on  organic 
substances  through  the  law  of  affinity;  that  a  group  of 
chemical  compounds  known  as  albuminoids  enter  largely 
into  animal  bodies,  as  well  as  into  the  most  of  our  food; 
that  this  subtle  force  of  chemical  affinity  possesses  the 
power  of  so  combining  and  arranging  atoms  or  molecules 
as  to  form  other  and  more  complex  bodies,  such  as 
changing  gases  into  jelly-like  albuminous  compounds 
called  protoplasm,  which  is  the  first  step  in  the  evolution 
of  vital  organisms  endowed  with  the  principle  called  life. 

Conclusion. 

Every  system  of  religion,  whatever  may  have  been  its 
status  in  former  times,  must  in  this  day  of  free  thought 
and  advanced  science  be  able  to  stand  the  test  of  criti- 
cism and  reason,  or  it  must  take  its  place  among  the 
fables,  legends,  and  myths  of  the  dead  past.  Many  of 
the  ancient  systems,  resting  on,  if  possible,  better  founda- 
tions than  the  present  living  ones,  have  passed  into 
oblivion,  leaving  doubtful  manuscripts  and  more  enduring 
monumental  inscriptions  of  their  influence  andpowerover 
the  minds  and  bodies  of  men.  The  great  and  powerful 
religious  systems  of  Chaldea,  Babylon,  Egypt,  Scandina- 
via, Persia,  Greece,  and  Rome,  which  so  long  swayed  the 
destinies  of  the  world,  and  were  accepted  as  divine  and 
immortal  truths,  have  passed  away  to  sleep  in  the  grave  of 
eternity ;  while  in  Tndia.  the  cradle  of  all  religion?,  and  in 


And  Christian  Mytholog-  .  229 

China,  these  institutions  are  struggling   in  their  d 
throes. 

Judaism  is  a  thing  of  the  past,  vibrating  between  life 
and  death,  its  soul  having  already  departed,  leaving  the 
body  to  be  claimed  tor  burial  by  strangers.  And,  last  vi 
all,  Christianity  is  on  trial,  not  for  its  nmrder  of  thirty 
or  forty  millions  of  innocent  men,  women,  and  children, 
and  other  crimes,  but  for  its  claim  to  be  of  supernatural 
origin. 

Criticism,  science,  history,  reason,  and  common  sense 
are  the  prosecuting  witnesses,  and  they  have  been 
brought  into  court  as  the  result  of  free  thought  and  free 
speech,  in  spite  of  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the  church  to 
crush  them. 

Listen  to  Byron  while  lie  sayb 

"Even  Gods  must  yield,  religions  take  their  turn, 
'T was  Jove's,  'tis  Mahomet's;  and  other  creeds  will  rise 
Willi  otl  till  man  shall  learn 

Vainly  his  ini  irs,  his  victim  l>lrc<ls. 

child   cf  doubt   and  death,  whose   hope  is  built  on 
reed-.'' 

I  )r.  L.  Buchner,  the  greal  German  scientist,  in  his 
"Man  in  the  Past,  Present,  ami  Future,"  speaking  of 
('hristian  "ii  stands,  b)  its  dogmatic  portion  or 

contents,  in  such  striking  and  irreconcilable,  na)  abso 

n  with  all  ih«'  acquisitions  and 

principles  of  modern  science,  that  its  future  tragical  fate 

ion  of  1 1 1 1 1 -  .*' 

We  are  living  in  an  age  of  reason  and  common  sense, 

•  nee  and  toleration,  a  and 

in-.-  humanity.     The  world  is  l><-tt<-t  than  >i  was  in 

the  dark  ag<  -;  man  is  better  to  day  than  he  was  yi 


230  Commentaries  on  Hebrew 

day;  and  he  will  be  better  to-morrow  than  he  is  to-day. 
Even  the  mythologian  is  betraying  signs  of  awakening 
humanity.  Whether  life  be  the  result  of  force  acting  on 
organized  forms,  and  dependent  on  such  forms  for  its 
existence,  or  whether  it  be  independent  matter,  residing 
in  such  organized  forms  and  self-existent,  science  gives 
no  response.  And  whether  life  is  to  continue  beyond  the 
grave  is  a  problem  resting  on  the  hidden  and  immutable 
laws  of  nature,  the  key  to  which  is  as  accessible  to  the  in- 
sect and  the  quadruped  as  to  the  scientist  or  the  priest. 
Man  in  his  onward  course  is  no  longer  a  slave  to  super- 
stition. 

The  mythologian  may  lament  his  fading  glory,  he  may 
hurl  his  anathemas,  he  may  bewail  his  declining  influence, 
he  may  parade  his  pit  of  torment,  and  he  may  call  upon 
his  self-made  divinities  to  hurl  their  thunderbolts,  while 
the  sensible  world  smiles  with  contempt  at  his  childish 
simplicity. 

The  church  has  lost  its  power  to  use  instruments  of 
torture  and  to  apply  the  torch  to  an  unbelieving  world. 
The  loss  of  this  power  carries  the  church  down  with  it; 
its  death  is  only  a  question  of  time. 

When  the  mythologian  shall  have  shuffled  off  his 
clerical  garb,  and  when  his  doctrines,  his  dogmas,  his 
superstitions,  and  his  nonsense  have  all  to  the  grave 
gone  down,  may  the  world  forgive  and  forget  his  errors, 
his  crimes,  and  his  intolerance,  while  his  ashes  repose  in 
peace  and  tranquillity  under  the  ever-watchful  care  and 
guidance  of  Horus,  Ra,  and  Turn,  where  no  bugle's  blast 
shall  wake  him  to  battle  again. 

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